Translation guide
A dense group of bushes or small trees. In Japanese, the most common and natural word is 茂み (shigemi), but other terms exist for specific types or literary contexts.
The most common, everyday word for a thicket or dense growth of bushes/small trees.
The standard, neutral word for a thicket or clump of bushes. Used in everyday conversation and writing.
ウサギが茂みに隠れた。
A rabbit hid in the thicket.
庭の茂みを刈り込んだ。
I trimmed the thicket in the garden.
Often implies a thicker, wilder, or more tangled thicket, sometimes with a nuance of being overgrown or difficult to pass through. Common in set phrases like 藪の中 (in the thicket / in a tangle).
藪の中で迷子になった。
I got lost in the thicket.
藪をつついて蛇を出す。
Poke a thicket and a snake comes out. (Proverb: Let sleeping dogs lie.)
Literally a clump of grass or weeds, but can refer to a thicket of low vegetation. More literary or descriptive.
叢に露が光っていた。
Dew glistened on the thicket.
Specifically a thicket of bamboo.
A bamboo grove or thicket. The standard term for a dense stand of bamboo.
裏山に小さな竹林がある。
There is a small bamboo thicket on the hill behind the house.
A bamboo thicket, often with a wilder or more overgrown nuance than 竹林.
A thicket with thorns or brambles.
Literally 'thorn thicket'. Used for brambles or thorny bushes.
茨の茂みに服が引っかかった。
My clothes got caught in the thorny thicket.
A thicket of thorns, emphasizing the tangled, prickly nature.
棘の藪を通り抜けるのは大変だ。
It's tough to get through a thorny thicket.
Used in literature or poetry for a thicket, often with a classical or aesthetic feel.
A noun form of 茂る (to grow thick), used in literary contexts to mean a thick growth or thicket.
夏の茂りが庭を覆った。
The summer thicket covered the garden.
Undergrowth, underbrush. Can refer to a thicket of low plants beneath trees.
茂み is the safest, most neutral word for any thicket of bushes. 藪 often implies a wilder, more tangled, or impenetrable thicket, and appears in many idioms. Use 茂み for general descriptions, and 藪 when you want to emphasize wildness or difficulty.
For bamboo thickets, use 竹林 or 竹藪. 茂み typically refers to bushes or shrubs, not bamboo.
竹藪をかき分けて進んだ。
We pushed our way through the bamboo thicket.
A stream ran through the thicket of the forest undergrowth.