巷
Meanings
the public; the street; public rumor
Most common in modern Japanese in expressions such as 巷で噂になる or 巷の声, referring to what people in society are saying or thinking.
That new shop has become the talk of the town.
It is risky to believe street rumors just as they are.
A somewhat literary or old-fashioned noun for the streets or quarters of a town, rather than a single road in the everyday sense.
On the night of the festival, the streets of Edo overflowed with people.
Rare, literary use for a dividing line or brink, especially in fixed expressions such as 生死の巷, the boundary between life and death.
Badly injured, he hovered between life and death.
fork in a road; crossroads
This as the original meaning. In modern use it is rare as an independent sense and is mainly relevant for older, literary, or explanatory contexts.
In old usage, 巷 refers to a place where roads branch.
Usage patterns
- 〈事〉が巷で噂になるfor something to become the talk of the town
That news has become the talk of the town.
- 〈物〉が巷にあふれるfor something to flood the streets/be everywhere in society
Cheap goods are flooding the streets everywhere.
- 〈事〉の巷となるto become the scene of (a war, disaster, etc.)
The village became a scene of war and devastation.
- 生死の巷the brink between life and death
The doctors kept desperately working on the brink between life and death.