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粘る (ねばる, nebaru) Japanese meaning: be sticky | Kotomora
Common word› JLPT N1 › Freq. Frequency Top 20,000 Conjugation 粘る · godan verb (-ru)
Form Positive Negative Dictionary 粘ねば る 粘ねば らない Polite 粘ねば ります 粘ねば りません Past polite 粘ねば りました 粘ねば りませんでした Past 粘ねば った 粘ねば らなかった Te-form 粘ねば って 粘ねば らないで Desire 粘ねば りたい 粘ねば りたくない Potential 粘ねば れる 粘ねば れない Passive 粘ねば られる 粘ねば られない Causative 粘ねば らせる 粘ねば らせない Causative passive 粘ねば らせられる also 粘ねば らされる 粘ねば らせられない also 粘ねば らされない Volitional 粘ねば ろう Polite volitional 粘ねば りましょう Imperative 粘ねば れ 粘ねば るな Conditional 粘ねば れば 粘ねば らなければ Tara conditional 粘ねば ったら 粘ねば らなかったら
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This mochi is very sticky and hard to bite through.
Usage patterns 〈 物もの 〉 が 粘ねば る for a substance to be sticky/gooey
最さい 後ご まで 粘ねば る to hold out/persevere until the very end
He held out until the end and turned the match around.
〈 場ば 所しょ 〉 で 粘ねば る to stay somewhere longer than expected
She stayed at the café until closing time.
交こう 渉しょう で 粘ねば る to persist stubbornly in negotiations
He persisted stubbornly in negotiations to lower the price.
Kanji 粘 sticky, glutinous, greasy Related words· 6 頑張る is the general word for trying hard or doing one's best, while 粘る specifically stresses stubbornly holding on and not giving up despite pressure to quit.
粘着する is a formal/technical verb for adhering or sticking to a surface, while 粘る is the everyday word for something being sticky or gooey.
持ちこたえる means to hold out or withstand a difficult situation, while 粘る adds the nuance of active, stubborn resistance rather than mere endurance.
粘る means to persevere or stick it out in general, while 食い下がる specifically conveys refusing to back down in a confrontation or debate.
Show 2 more 粘る means to persist or hang on tenaciously, while 突っ張る in this sense stresses stubbornly refusing to change one's stance.
粘る focuses on stubbornly persisting or dragging something out (like a negotiation or a game), while 踏ん張る highlights the moment of bracing against pressure to avoid losing ground.
Word family· 7 stickiness; viscosity · tenacity; persistence
tenacious; persevering; persistent · sticky; viscous
stickiness; viscosity; glutinosity
Written forms 粘ねば る Usage 80%
Standard kanji spelling for both literal stickiness and figurative persistence.
ねばる Usage 20%
Kana spelling is common in casual writing and when the figurative sense is emphasized.
Etymology Derived from the adjective ねばい (sticky), which itself comes from the root ねば (sticky substance). The figurative sense of persistence developed from the idea of sticking to something tenaciously.
腰ごし
strong hips; tenacious lower body
stick to; adhere to; cling to
