Translation guide
The English phrase "dry up" has several distinct meanings. This guide covers the most common uses for learners: becoming dry (liquids evaporating), losing moisture (things drying out), and the figurative meaning of a supply or resource running out. It also includes the less common meaning of someone stopping talking.
To describe a liquid evaporating or a wet surface becoming dry.
Intransitive verb meaning 'to become dry'. Used for things like clothes, ground, or paint. For liquids disappearing, 乾く can be used when the focus is on the surface becoming dry.
The laundry dried up.
The puddles on the road dried up.
Specifically means 'to dry up' for bodies of water like rivers, lakes, or wells. Emphasizes complete drying.
The river dried up due to the drought.
Means 'to evaporate'. More scientific/technical. Use when emphasizing the process of liquid turning into vapor.
The water in the puddle evaporated (dried up).
To describe something losing its internal moisture, becoming dry and often hard or brittle.
Intransitive verb meaning 'to dry out', 'to become dry'. Used for skin, air, food, etc. Often implies an undesirable state.
My skin tends to dry up in winter.
The bread dried up and became hard.
Means 'to dry up completely', often with a shriveled or withered nuance. Used for food, plants, or even people in a figurative sense.
Specifically for plants 'to wither' or 'to die' from drying up. Not for general moisture loss.
To describe a source of something (money, ideas, conversation) gradually decreasing and eventually stopping.
Intransitive verb meaning 'to run out', 'to be exhausted'. Used for resources, patience, ideas, etc.
The funds dried up.
More formal/literary term for 'drying up' or 'being depleted', often used for natural resources or abstract supplies.
Oil resources are drying up.
Specifically for wells or springs running dry. Can be used metaphorically for creativity.
To tell someone to be quiet or stop talking, often in a rude or angry way.
Rude command meaning 'Shut up!'. Equivalent to the imperative 'Dry up!'.
Very strong and impolite. Use only in extreme situations or with close friends jokingly.
Dry up!
Literally 'noisy', but used as 'Shut up!' or 'Be quiet!'. Less harsh than 黙れ but still rude.
Dry up! Be quiet for a moment.
A more formal or authoritative way to say 'Be quiet!'. Often used by parents or teachers.
Dry up! (Said sternly)
乾く (kawaku) is the general word for something becoming dry to the touch (clothes, ground). 乾燥する (kansō suru) emphasizes the process of losing internal moisture and is often used for skin, air, or food. 乾燥する can also be used as a transitive verb (to dry something out), while 乾く is only intransitive.
When talking about money or ideas 'drying up', avoid literal translations like お金が乾く (okane ga kawaku). Use 尽きる (tsukiru) or 枯渇する (kokatsu suru) instead.
a dried-up mummy
The plant dried up from lack of water.
The flowers dried up because I didn't water them.
The conversation dried up and an awkward silence followed.
The well dried up.