Translation guide
The English word 'dripping' can refer to liquid falling in drops, being very wet, or the fat from cooked meat. This guide covers natural Japanese expressions for each meaning.
Describing liquid that is dripping or falling drop by drop.
Intransitive verb meaning 'to drip' or 'to trickle down'. Used for liquids slowly falling in drops.
Sweat is dripping from my forehead.
Rainwater drips from the roof.
Intransitive verb meaning 'to hang down' or 'to drip'. Often used for thicker liquids or when something hangs and drips.
Wax is dripping from the candle.
Onomatopoeic phrase for the sound or action of dripping, often used for water or light liquids.
Water is dripping from the faucet.
Describing something that is so wet that liquid is dripping from it.
Na-adjective meaning 'soaking wet' or 'dripping wet'. Commonly used for clothes, hair, or objects.
My clothes got dripping wet from the rain.
Noun/na-adjective meaning 'drenched' or 'soaked to the skin'. Stronger than びしょびしょ.
Literally 'to the extent that water drips'. Used to emphasize extreme wetness.
A towel so wet it's dripping.
Referring to the fat that drips from meat during cooking, often used in British English.
滴る (shitataru) is specifically for liquid dripping in drops, often with a sense of trickling. 垂れる (tareru) can also mean 'to hang down' and is used for thicker substances or when something dangles and drips. For water dripping from a faucet, 滴る is more precise, but 垂れる is also possible.
While 汗が滴る is correct for literal sweat dripping, the English phrase 'dripping with sweat' as an exaggeration might be better expressed with 汗だく (covered in sweat) or 汗びっしょり (soaked with sweat).
彼はずぶ濡れで帰ってきた。
He came home dripping wet.
Fry vegetables in the drippings from the bacon.