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かいつまむ Japanese meaning | Kotomora
Meanings 1
godan verb (-mu), transitive verb
summarize ; sum up ; give the gist
usually written using kana alone
Often used in the form かいつまんで (adverbial) meaning 'in brief' or 'to put it simply'. Used when giving a concise summary of a story, explanation, or situation.
かいつまん で 言い う と 、 計けい 画かく は 中ちゅう 止し に なっ た 。
To sum up, the plan was canceled.
Written forms かいつまむ Usage 89%
Usually written in kana; the kanji spelling 掻い摘む is rare.
掻か い 摘つま む Usage 5%
Rare kanji form; the word is normally written in kana.
かい 摘つま む Usage 4%
搔か い 摘つま む Usage 2%
rarely-used kanji form
Variant with 搔 (old form of 掻); rarely used.
Similar words 要よう 約やく する 要約する is more formal and often used for written summaries or abstracts, while かいつまむ is colloquial and used for giving a quick oral summary.
まとめる まとめる means 'to put together' or 'to organize' and can refer to summarizing, but it also covers physical gathering or unifying. かいつまむ specifically means to pick out the main points and present them concisely.
Etymology From 掻い (kai, prefix adding emphasis or a light action) + 摘む (tsumamu, 'to pick' or 'to pinch'). Literally 'to pick out', it came to mean selecting only the essential parts and presenting them briefly.
