Translation guide
The English verb 'disperse' covers several related ideas: scattering things or people, spreading something over an area, and fading away or disappearing. This guide organizes the most useful Japanese expressions by these core meanings.
群衆が散らばった。
The crowd dispersed.
警察が抗議者を散らした。
The police dispersed the protesters.
霧が晴れた。
The fog dispersed.
To cause a group of people or animals to separate and go in different directions, or to describe them doing so.
Intransitive verb meaning 'to scatter' or 'to be dispersed'. Used when people or things spread out on their own.
群衆が四方に散らばった。
The crowd dispersed in all directions.
Transitive verb meaning 'to scatter' or 'to disperse'. Used when someone actively causes the scattering.
警察がデモ隊を散らした。
The police dispersed the demonstrators.
Means 'to break up' or 'to dissolve' a gathering, meeting, or organization. Often used for formal disbanding.
集会は午後5時に解散した。
The meeting dispersed at 5 p.m.
Literary or formal term meaning 'to scatter in all directions'. Often used in written descriptions.
敵軍は四散した。
The enemy troops dispersed.
To spread something like light, smoke, seeds, or information over a wide area.
Technical and general term for diffusion or dispersion of particles, light, heat, or information.
光が霧の中で拡散した。
The light dispersed in the fog.
Means 'to scatter' or 'to distribute' over an area, often used for seeds, chemicals, or flyers.
農家が畑に種を散布した。
The farmer dispersed seeds over the field.
Intransitive verb for scattering or being strewn about, often used for light or small objects.
光が水面で散乱している。
The light is dispersing on the water surface.
To gradually become less dense and vanish, like fog, smoke, or a gathering of people.
Common verb for clouds, fog, or doubt clearing up. Natural for weather-related dispersion.
霧が晴れて、山が見えた。
The fog dispersed and we could see the mountains.
General verb for disappearing. Can be used for crowds, smoke, etc., but less specific than 'disperse'.
Formal term for scattering and being lost, often used for documents, heat, or gas.
熱が宇宙に散逸する。
Heat disperses into space.
散らばる (chirabaru) is intransitive: things scatter by themselves. 散らす (chirasu) is transitive: someone scatters things. Use the correct one based on whether there is an agent.
紙が風で散らばった。
The papers were dispersed by the wind.
彼が紙を散らした。
He scattered the papers.
拡散する (kakusan suru) is often technical. For everyday scattering of people or objects, 散らばる/散らす or 解散する are more natural.
The smoke dispersed into the sky.