かいつまむ

か

い

つ

ま

む

かいつまむ · godan verb (-mu)

Form	Positive	Negative
Dictionary	かいつまむ	かいつままない
Polite	かいつまみます	かいつまみません
Past polite	かいつまみました	かいつまみませんでした
Past	かいつまんだ	かいつままなかった
Te-form	かいつまんで	かいつままないで
Desire	かいつまみたい	かいつまみたくない
Potential	かいつまめる	かいつまめない
Passive	かいつままれる	かいつままれない
Causative	かいつまませる	かいつまませない
Causative passive	かいつまませられるalso かいつままされる	かいつまませられないalso かいつままされない
Volitional	かいつまもう
Polite volitional	かいつまみましょう
Imperative	かいつまめ	かいつまむな
Conditional	かいつまめば	かいつままなければ
Tara conditional	かいつまんだら	かいつままなかったら

Meanings

godan verb (-mu), transitive verb

summarize; sum up; give the gist

usually written using kana alone

Often used in the form かいつまんで (adverbial) meaning 'in brief' or 'to put it simply'. Used when giving a concise summary of a story, explanation, or situation.

経けい緯いをかいつまんで説せつ明めいします。
I'll briefly explain the circumstances.
かいつまんで言いうと、計けい画かくは中ちゅう止しになった。
To sum up, the plan was canceled.

See all 6 example sentences ›

Kanji

掻scratch, rake, comb
摘pinch, pick, pluck
搔to scratch

Related words

要よう約やくする
要約する is more formal and often used for written summaries or abstracts, while かいつまむ is colloquial and used for giving a quick oral summary.
まとめる
まとめる means 'to put together' or 'to organize' and can refer to summarizing, but it also covers physical gathering or unifying. かいつまむ specifically means to pick out the main points and present them concisely.

Written forms

かいつまむUsage89%
Usually written in kana; the kanji spelling 掻い摘む is rare.
掻かい摘つまむUsage5%
Rare kanji form; the word is normally written in kana.
かい摘つまむUsage4%
search-only kanji form
搔かい摘つまむUsage2%
rarely-used kanji form
Variant with 搔 (old form of 掻); rarely used.

Etymology

From 掻い (kai, prefix adding emphasis or a light action) + 摘む (tsumamu, 'to pick' or 'to pinch'). Literally 'to pick out', it came to mean selecting only the essential parts and presenting them briefly.