乾く (かわく, kawaku) Japanese meaning: get dry | Kotomora

乾かわく

か

わ

く

Common wordJLPTN4Freq.FrequencyTop 10,000

乾く · godan verb (-ku)

Form	Positive	Negative
Dictionary	乾かわく	乾かわかない
Polite	乾かわきます	乾かわきません
Past polite	乾かわきました	乾かわきませんでした
Past	乾かわいた	乾かわかなかった
Te-form	乾かわいて	乾かわかないで
Desire	乾かわきたい	乾かわきたくない
Potential	乾かわける	乾かわけない
Passive	乾かわかれる	乾かわかれない
Causative	乾かわかせる	乾かわかせない
Causative passive	乾かわかせられるalso 乾かわかされる	乾かわかせられないalso 乾かわかされない
Volitional	乾かわこう
Polite volitional	乾かわきましょう
Imperative	乾かわけ	乾かわくな
Conditional	乾かわけば	乾かわかなければ
Tara conditional	乾かわいたら	乾かわかなかったら

Pairs with乾かす

Meanings

godan verb (-ku), intransitive verb

get dry; dry out

Intransitive verb: the subject itself becomes dry. Use が for the thing drying, as in 洗濯物が乾く; the transitive counterpart is 乾かす, 'to dry something.'

洗せん濯たく物ものがよく乾かわいた。

Kanji

乾drought, dry, desiccate

Transitive / intransitive

乾かわかすN3
乾く means something becomes dry on its own, while 乾かす means someone dries something (transitive).

Related words

乾かん燥そうN3
乾く is the plain everyday verb for something drying out, while 乾燥する is a more formal/technical term often used for climate, food preservation, or industrial drying.
涸かれるN1
乾く means to become dry in a general sense (clothes, air, throat), while 涸れる specifically refers to water sources or resources being depleted.
干ひる
乾く is the common everyday word for something becoming dry, while 干る is a less frequent, more literary word often limited to land, rivers, or tides drying up.

Opposites· 5

湿しめるN3
乾く means to become dry, while 湿る means to become damp or moist, the physical opposite state.
濡ぬれるN4
濡れる means to become wet, while 乾く means to become dry, the direct opposite process.
潤うるむN1
乾く means to dry out or lose moisture, the opposite of 潤む, which describes eyes or a voice becoming moist or tear-filled.

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Don't confuse with

渇かわくN2
乾く and 渇く share the same reading, but 乾く is for physical dryness of objects while 渇く is used for thirst (のどが渇く).
乾けん
乾 (けん) is the I Ching trigram for heaven, while 乾く (かわく) is the common verb meaning 'to dry/become dry' and shares only the kanji, not the reading or meaning.

Word family

乾かわき
drying; dryness
生なま乾かわき
half-dried; not fully dry
乾かわき物もの
dry snacks; otsumami
半はん乾かわき
half dry; partially dry

Written forms

乾かわくUsage91%
Standard kanji spelling for things losing moisture and becoming dry. Do not confuse with 渇く, also read かわく, meaning to become thirsty or crave something.
かわくUsage9%

Etymology

A native Japanese verb written with the kanji 乾, which is conventionally associated with dryness. The exact historical derivation of the Japanese verb is not specified.

Meanings

Usage patterns