Usage patterns 〈 場ば 所しょ 〉 が 平へい 坦たん だ a place/land is flat
The land around here is flat.
平へい 坦たん な 人じん 生せい an uneventful, trouble-free life
His life was not exactly smooth and uneventful.
平へい 坦たん な 道みち a flat road/path
I rode my bicycle along a flat road.
〈 場ば 所しょ 〉 を 平へい 坦たん にする to make (a place) flat/level
Construction work was carried out to level the land with heavy machinery.
Related words 平ら is the everyday, casual word for a flat surface, while 平坦 is a slightly more formal term that can also describe a smooth, trouble-free process.
穏やか describes a calm or gentle atmosphere, personality, or weather, whereas 平坦 in its second sense stresses the absence of trouble or excitement rather than gentleness.
単調 describes a life or process as monotonous and boring, while 平坦 in the same context just means uneventful and trouble-free, without the negative connotation of boredom.
平坦 is a native Japanese adjective for a flat or level surface, while フラット is the loanword version often used in more casual or technical contexts.
Opposites 起伏 refers to ups and downs, whether in terrain or in a life or career, directly contrasting with the flatness or evenness described by 平坦 .
険しい describes steep, rugged terrain, the opposite of the smooth, level ground described by 平坦 .
波乱 describes turbulence or dramatic ups and downs in events or a life story, the opposite of the calm, uneventful state described by 平坦 .
平坦 describes a flat, even surface, the direct opposite of the bumpy unevenness described by 凹凸 .
Don't confuse with 水平 means 'horizontal' (level with the horizon or a reference line), while 平坦 means 'flat, without bumps', so a surface can be 平坦 without being perfectly 水平 .
平坦 is a na-adjective meaning 'flat, even' describing a quality, while 平地 is a noun naming the flat land itself.
Written forms 平へい 坦たん Usage 96%
平へい たん Usage 4%
search-only kanji form
Search-only mixed kanji-kana form.
Etymology From 平 (flat) + 坦 (level, smooth). The kanji 坦 is not a jōyō kanji, which may explain the search-only mixed forms.
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