Translation guide
Describes moving or acting with reckless speed, often without thinking, or falling/diving forward. Japanese uses adverbs, compound verbs, and mimetic words to express these ideas.
To act or move with excessive haste, without due consideration.
Means reckless, rash, or foolhardy. Often used to describe a person's character or actions.
Literally 'without thinking of before or after', meaning acting without considering consequences.
後先考えずに飛び込んだ。
I jumped in headlong.
Describes doing something with reckless abandon, often in a positive sense of giving one's all.
To fall, dive, or plunge forward suddenly, often with the head first.
猪突猛進 implies a focused, almost admirable single-mindedness, while 無鉄砲 is purely negative, meaning reckless or foolhardy.
Do not translate 'headlong' literally as 頭が長い (atama ga nagai), which means 'having a long head' and is nonsensical in this context.
A four-character idiom meaning to rush headlong like a wild boar, often used for reckless, single-minded pursuit of a goal.
彼は猪突猛進でプロジェクトを進めた。
He pushed the project forward headlong.
無鉄砲な行動は危険だ。
Headlong actions are dangerous.
がむしゃらに働いた。
I worked headlong.
Means headfirst, headlong, or upside down. Used for falling or diving.
彼は崖からまっさかさまに落ちた。
He fell headlong off the cliff.
Kanji form of まっさかさま, same meaning.
真っ逆様に落ちる。
To fall headlong.
Literally 'from the head', meaning headfirst or headlong.
プールに頭から飛び込んだ。
I dove headlong into the pool.
A fall headlong, often used in martial arts or dramatic contexts.
逆落としの技をかける。
To perform a headlong throw.