独ひとりぼっち

also: ひとりぽっち

ひ

と

り

ぼ

っ

ち

JLPTN1Freq.FrequencyTop 50,000

Meanings

1

noun, noun which may take the genitive case particle 'no'

alone; lonely; solitude

Describes the state of being alone, often with a nuance of loneliness or isolation. Can be used as a noun or adjectivally with の.

しい

。

A night alone is lonely.

Written forms

独ひとりぼっちUsage13%
Most common kanji spelling; 独り emphasizes aloneness.
ひとりぼっちUsage54%
Kana spelling; common in informal writing and children's literature.
一人ひとりぼっちUsage32%
Common variant using 一人; slightly less frequent than 独りぼっち in modern writing.
ひとりぽっちUsage<1%
一人ひとりぽっち
Rare variant with ぽっち; the reading ひとりぽっち is less common.
独ひとりぽっち
Rare variant with ぽっち; the reading ひとりぽっち is less common.
独り法師
- ひとりぼっち
  Archaic ateji spelling; 法師 is a phonetic rendering. Rarely used today.
- ひとりぽっち

Kanji

一one, one radical (no.1)
人person
独single, alone, spontaneously
法

Similar words

孤こ独どく
孤独 is a more formal, abstract term for loneliness or isolation, often used in psychological or literary contexts. 独りぼっち is more colloquial and emotionally direct.
一人ひとり
一人 simply means 'one person' or 'alone' without the emotional weight of loneliness. 独りぼっち emphasizes the feeling of being left alone.

Etymology

Derived from 一人 (ひとり, 'one person') + 法師 (ほうし, 'Buddhist priest'), originally referring to a solitary monk. The 法師 part shifted to ぼっち through sound change, and the word came to mean 'alone' or 'lonely'.

method, law, rule

師expert, teacher, master