ヤブガラシ

also: ヤブカラシ

ヤ

ブ

ガ

ラ

シ

Meanings

noun

bushkiller; Cayratia japonica

usually written using kana alone

A herbaceous vine of the Vitaceae family, native to East and Southeast Asia. Often considered a weed due to its vigorous growth. The name literally means 'bush killer' because it can smother other plants.

庭にわにヤブガラシが生はえてきて、他ほかの植しょく物ぶつが枯かれてしまった。
Bushkiller grew in the garden and killed the other plants.
ヤブガラシは夏なつに小ちいさな花はなを咲さかせる。
Bushkiller produces small flowers in summer.

Kanji

藪thicket, bush, underbrush
枯wither, die, dry up
薮thicket, bush, underbrush

Built from

藪やぶ+枯からす

Written forms

ヤブガラシUsage57%
kana-only spelling
Standard katakana spelling, as the word is usually written in kana.
ヤブカラシUsage36%
kana-only spelling
Alternate katakana spelling reflecting the voiced variant reading やぶからし.
やぶからしUsage7%
Hiragana spelling for the voiced variant reading.
藪枯らし
- やぶがらし
  Kanji spelling; rarely used in practice. It is usually written in kana.
- やぶからし
薮枯らし
- やぶがらし
  Variant kanji spelling using 薮 instead of 藪. Even rarer than 藪枯らし.
- やぶからし
やぶがらし
Hiragana spelling; also common.
藪枯
- やぶがらし
  Abbreviated kanji spelling; very rare.
- やぶからし

Etymology

Compound of 藪 (yabu, 'thicket, bush') + 枯らし (karashi, 'killing, withering'), from the plant's tendency to overgrow and kill surrounding vegetation. The reading やぶがらし is standard; やぶからし is a voiced variant.