Translation guide
The English word "grooming" covers several distinct meanings: personal care and hygiene, preparing someone (especially a child) for a specific role or for abuse, animal cleaning behavior, and smoothing or tidying fur/feathers. This guide separates these meanings and gives natural Japanese equivalents for each.
The act of making oneself clean and neat, including hair, nails, skin, etc.
He spends a lot of time on grooming. · Good grooming is important for a job interview.
Refers to personal appearance and the effort to look neat and clean. Often used in contexts like business or daily life.
I pay attention to my grooming.
Grooming is important in an interview.
The act of tidying one's appearance, often used for fixing clothes or hair. Slightly more formal/literary than 身だしなみ.
He groomed himself in front of the mirror.
Literally 'care of one's personal surroundings', but used for personal grooming and hygiene.
Every morning, grooming takes time.
Loanword from English, used in specific contexts like pet grooming or sometimes in fashion/beauty. Not the default for personal grooming.
I spend money on pet grooming.
The act of preparing or training someone for a particular activity, or the manipulative process of building trust with a victim (especially a child) for sexual abuse.
The coach is grooming him to be the next captain. · Online predators use social media for grooming.
To tame or win someone over, often with manipulative intent. Used for both positive (training) and negative (grooming for abuse) contexts.
He is grooming the newcomer to be his successor.
To nurture or develop someone's skills, often used in sports or business. Neutral/positive connotation.
He is grooming young players.
Same as 手なずける but with a different kanji. Slightly more literary.
Direct translation for 'sexual grooming', used in news or legal contexts.
Sexual grooming is a crime.
The act of an animal cleaning itself or another animal, such as licking fur or picking at feathers.
Cats spend hours grooming themselves. · Monkeys engage in social grooming.
Specifically refers to animals grooming their fur or feathers. Very common for cats, birds, etc.
The cat is grooming itself.
Used in biology/ethology for animal grooming behavior, especially social grooming among primates.
Specifically for birds preening their feathers. A subset of 毛繕い.
The act of a person or animal smoothing or arranging fur, feathers, or hair, often with a tool.
She was grooming the horse's mane. · The bird groomed its feathers with its beak.
To arrange or tidy up. Can be used for hair, fur, feathers, etc. General and natural.
Groom the horse's mane.
To brush (hair/fur). Very common for pet grooming.
Groom the dog (with a brush).
To comb or card (hair/fur). Often used for thorough grooming.
While グルーミング is understood, it sounds like a loanword and is not the natural choice for daily personal grooming. Use 身だしなみ or 身繕い instead.
Groom oneself.
毛繕い is the general term for animals grooming fur or feathers. 羽繕い is specific to birds preening feathers. Use 毛繕い unless you need to emphasize feathers.
Cats love grooming.
The parakeet started grooming its feathers.
犯人は子供を手なずけてから誘拐した。
The criminal groomed the child before kidnapping.
He tamed a stray cat.
Birds spend a lot of time grooming their feathers.
Social grooming in primates strengthens bonds.
スズメが羽繕いをしている。
The sparrow is grooming its feathers.
She groomed her hair with her hands.
Groom the cat's fur (with a comb).