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ちらほら (chirahora) Japanese meaning: here and there | Kotomora
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公こう 園えん に は 桜さくら の 木き が ちらほら と 咲さ き 始はじ め て い た 。
Cherry trees were starting to bloom here and there in the park.
Usage patterns 〈 物もの 〉 がちらほら 見み える to be visible here and there
You can see houses here and there in the distance.
〈 物もの 〉 がちらほら 咲さ く to bloom sparsely, here and there
The cherry blossoms in the park have started to bloom here and there.
〈 事こと 〉 がちらほら 聞き こえる to occasionally hear something
Laughter occasionally drifts in from the classroom.
白髪しらが がちらほらする to have a few gray hairs showing here and there
Lately my father has a few gray hairs showing here and there.
Related words· 9 まばら is a な-adjective/noun describing a sparse state, while ちらほら is an adverb describing the manner in which things appear scattered.
ぽつぽつ suggests things appearing slowly and one by one, while ちらほら emphasizes a light, scattered spread without implying a building pace.
時々 is a plain, common word for 'sometimes,' while ちらほら adds a nuance of sporadic, occasional occurrence with a slightly literary feel.
ちらほら and ぼちぼち both describe things appearing sporadically here and there, though ちらほら is more common in this scattered sense.
Show 5 more ちらほら describes things appearing sparsely and intermittently, similar to ぼつぼつ's 'here and there' sense, but ちらほら is more common in casual speech about sightings.
点々 is a slightly more formal/descriptive term for things scattered here and there, while ちらほら is more casual and often used for things gradually starting to appear, like cherry blossoms.
ちらほら describes things appearing here and there in small numbers, similar to ポツリポツリ's sense of sparse occurrence, but it lacks ポツリポツリ's rhythmic sense of pause-then-repeat.
Opposites ぎっしり describes things packed tightly together, the opposite of ちらほら's scattered, sparse distribution.
ちらほら describes things appearing sparsely, here and there, the opposite of わんさ's sense of crowding in great numbers.
ちらほら describes people or things appearing sparsely and occasionally, the opposite of ぞろぞろ's image of a dense, continuous crowd.
Written forms ちらほら Usage 70%
Kana-only mimetic adverb; no kanji spelling is used.
チラホラ Usage 30%
Etymology A mimetic word (擬態語) derived from the reduplication of ちら, which suggests scattered or intermittent appearance. The exact origin is uncertain, but it is part of a large family of sound-symbolic adverbs in Japanese.
ところ
々どころ
N3
ちらほら stresses that something appears sparsely and intermittently, while 所々 simply marks scattered spots within a set area.
ちらほら means something occurs sporadically or here and there, often of people or reports, while ちらちら emphasizes brief visual flashes or repeated glimpses.
