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.
A rabbit hid in the thicket.
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).
I got lost in the thicket.
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.
Dew glistened on the thicket.
Specifically a thicket of bamboo.
A thicket with thorns or brambles.
Used in literature or poetry for a thicket, often with a classical or aesthetic feel.
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.