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.
彼は急な斜面を這うように進んだ。
He scrambled up the steep slope.
To move in a flustered, hurried manner. Good for general scrambling.
火災報知器が鳴って、みんな慌てて動いた。
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'.
子供たちはお菓子を奪い合った。
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'.
彼は塀をよじ登った。
He scrambled over the fence.
To mix things together in a disordered way, or to confuse information.
To jumble up, mix haphazardly. Casual and common.
書類をごちゃ混ぜにしないでください。
Don't scramble the documents.
To stir or mix, but can imply a disorderly mixing when used figuratively.
彼は話の順序をかき混ぜてしまった。
He scrambled the order of the story.
To cook beaten eggs in a pan, stirring gently.
The standard way to say 'make scrambled eggs'. The loanword is common.
朝食にスクランブルエッグを作った。
I scrambled some eggs for breakfast.
A more traditional Japanese cooking term for scrambling eggs, literally 'to pan-fry eggs until dry'.
卵を炒りつけて、ご飯にのせた。
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.
このチャンネルはスクランブルがかかっている。
This channel is scrambled.
To encrypt or encode. More formal and general for data.
通信内容は暗号化されている。
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.
To be jumbled together, often used for things or people in confusion.
色々な思いが入り乱れている。
My thoughts are all scrambled.