眠ねむれる

ね

む

れ

る

Freq.FrequencyTop 20,000

眠れる · ichidan verb

Form	Positive	Negative
Dictionary	眠ねむれる	眠ねむれない
Polite	眠ねむれます	眠ねむれません
Past polite	眠ねむれました	眠ねむれませんでした
Past	眠ねむれた	眠ねむれなかった
Te-form	眠ねむれて	眠ねむれないで
Desire	眠ねむれたい	眠ねむれたくない
Potential	眠ねむれられるalso 眠ねむれれる	眠ねむれられないalso 眠ねむれれない
Passive	眠ねむれられる	眠ねむれられない
Causative	眠ねむれさせる	眠ねむれさせない
Causative passive	眠ねむれさせられる	眠ねむれさせられない
Volitional	眠ねむれよう
Polite volitional	眠ねむれましょう
Imperative	眠ねむれろ	眠ねむれるな
Conditional	眠ねむれれば	眠ねむれなければ
Tara conditional	眠ねむれたら	眠ねむれなかったら

Meanings

pre-noun adjectival

sleeping; asleep; slumbering

formal or literary

Formal or literary pre-noun adjectival (rentaishi) used to describe something that is sleeping or dormant. Often appears in set phrases like 眠れる獅子 (sleeping lion) or 眠れる才能 (dormant talent).

彼かれは眠ねむれる獅し子しのような存そん在ざいだ。
He is like a sleeping lion.
その発はっ見けんは眠ねむれる才さい能のうを呼よび覚さました。
That discovery awakened a dormant talent.

ichidan verb, intransitive verb

to be able to sleep

Potential form of 眠る (to sleep), meaning 'can sleep' or 'to be able to sleep'. Used intransitively.

Usage patterns

眠ねむれる獅し子しa sleeping lion (fig. a dormant giant or power)
かつて中ちゅう国ごくは「眠ねむれる獅し子し」と呼よばれていた。
China was once called 'the sleeping lion.'
安あん心しんして眠ねむれるto be able to sleep with peace of mind
薬くすりを飲のんだら安あん心しんして眠ねむれた。
After taking the medicine, I was able to sleep peacefully.
眠ねむれる才さい能のうdormant talent
彼かれには眠ねむれる才さい能のうがまだたくさんある。
He still has a lot of dormant talent.
〈場ば所しょ〉でよく眠ねむれるto be able to sleep well (in a place)
このホテルはとても静しずかで、よく眠ねむれた。
This hotel was very quiet, so I was able to sleep well.

Kanji

眠sleep, die, sleepy

Related words

潜せん在ざい的てき sense 1
眠れる is a literary rentaishi used in fixed phrases like 眠れる才能 to mean 'dormant', while 潜在的 is the everyday adjectival noun meaning 'latent' and can modify almost any noun.

Don't confuse with

眠ねむるN4
眠る is the plain dictionary form meaning 'to sleep', while 眠れる is either its potential form meaning 'can sleep' or a separate literary word meaning 'sleeping/dormant'.
眠ねむいN5sense 2
眠い describes the feeling of being sleepy, whereas 眠れる (the potential form) describes the ability to actually fall asleep.

Written forms

眠ねむれるUsage97%
Standard kanji form for both the pre-noun adjectival and the potential verb senses.
ねむれるUsage3%

Etymology

眠れる is derived from the verb 眠る (to sleep). The pre-noun adjectival use is a classical rentaikei (attributive form) that survives in modern literary Japanese. The potential verb sense is the regular potential form of 眠る.