Translation guide
The English verb "scramble" covers several distinct actions: moving quickly and clumsily, mixing things up, cooking eggs, and making a signal unintelligible. This guide breaks down each meaning and provides natural Japanese equivalents.
To move hurriedly, often using hands and feet, or to compete eagerly for something.
Literally 'to crawl forward', used when scrambling over rough terrain or through a crowd.
He scrambled up the steep slope.
To move in a flustered, hurried manner. Good for general scrambling.
When the fire alarm went off, everyone scrambled.
To scramble for something, as in competing to grab it. Often used with '～を奪い合う'.
The children scrambled for the candy.
To clamber up, scramble up (a wall, tree, etc.). More deliberate than '這うように進む'.
He scrambled over the fence.
To mix things together in a disordered way, or to confuse information.
To cook beaten eggs in a pan, stirring gently.
The standard way to say 'make scrambled eggs'. The loanword is common.
I scrambled some eggs for breakfast.
A more traditional Japanese cooking term for scrambling eggs, literally 'to pan-fry eggs until dry'.
I scrambled eggs and put them on rice.
To encode or distort a signal so it cannot be understood without a decoder.
Uses the loanword 'スクランブル' as a noun plus 'かける'. Common in technical contexts.
This channel is scrambled.
To encrypt or encode. More formal and general for data.
The communication is scrambled.
The loanword スクランブル is mainly used for scrambled eggs, signal scrambling, and sometimes in 'スクランブル交差点' (scramble crossing). It is not used for physical scrambling or mixing things up.
He scrambled the order of the story.
To be jumbled together, often used for things or people in confusion.
My thoughts are all scrambled.