Meanings Jump to a sense… 1. marsh; swamp; wetland; bog; pond 2. obsession; addiction; being hooked on 3. ugly man 4. retard; mentally disabled person Usage patterns 沼ぬま にはまる to get stuck/sink into a swamp
My shoe got stuck in the swamp and I couldn't pull it out.
〈 物もの 〉 沼ぬま にはまる to become obsessed/hooked on something
I've recently gotten totally hooked on idols.
沼ぬま が 深ふか い to be deeply obsessed (with something)
His anime obsession is way too deep at this point.
Related words· 7 池 refers to a clearer, more contained body of water like a pond, while 沼 suggests a marshy, vegetation-choked area with indistinct edges.
中毒 describes a strong, often harmful addiction (e.g. to drugs or gambling), while slang 沼 is lighter, used for being happily hooked on a hobby or fandom.
湿地 is the formal, technical term for wetland used in geography or ecology, whereas 沼 is the everyday word for a swamp or marsh.
沼 is the plain, general word for a swamp or pond, while 泥沼 stresses the mud and the difficulty of getting out, both literally and figuratively.
Show 3 more Show fewer 沼 denotes one marsh or swamp, while 湖沼 groups marshes together with lakes as a single geographic category.
沼 refers to a single pond or small body of muddy water, whereas 沼沢 denotes a larger, extended marshland area.
沼 describes a swamp or marsh that is shallower and more vegetated than a 湖 , which is a deeper, open body of water.
Don't confuse with 池沼 looks like a simple compound meaning 'ponds and marshes' but has become a derogatory slur online, unlike the neutral geographical word 沼 .
沼 is a single swamp or pond, while 沼地 is the broader area of land characterized by such swamps.
沼 refers specifically to a pond or marsh with standing water, while 沢 (in its swamp sense) is a broader, less common term for wetlands that also has a distinct 'mountain stream' meaning.
Word family· 19 bog; marsh; swamp · quagmire; morass; dire situation
deep-mud paddy
marshland; wetland; swampland
get hooked on; become obsessed with · be stuck in a slump; struggle to progress
bald cypress; Taxodium distichum
Show 8 more Show fewer Lysimachia fortunei (species of loosestrife)
Asian grass frog; Indian rice frog; cricket frog
Helobdella stagnalis (species of leech)
Nipponocypris sieboldii; a species of cyprinid fish
starry flounder
mugger crocodile; marsh crocodile
Paratya compressa (freshwater shrimp)
Adenostemma lavenia; swamp daisy
See all 19 in Explore →
Written forms 沼ぬま Usage 96%
Standard kanji spelling for all senses.
ぬま Usage 2%
Kana spelling is common in casual writing, especially for slang senses.
ヌマ Usage 1%
Etymology The kanji 沼 has meant 'marsh' or 'swamp' since Old Japanese. The slang senses (obsession, ugly man, retard) are modern extensions, with the 'obsession' sense likening a deep interest to being stuck in a swamp, and the derogatory senses arising from internet slang abbreviations.
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