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ホタル (ほたる, hotaru) Japanese meaning: firefly | Kotomora
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On a summer night, fireflies were glowing near the river.
When I was a child, I used to catch fireflies.
Usage patterns 蛍ほたる が 光ひか る for fireflies to glow/flicker
On a summer night, fireflies were glowing by the riverside.
蛍ほたる を 見み る to go watch fireflies (a common summer activity)
We went out as a family to see the fireflies.
蛍ほたる が 飛と ぶ for fireflies to fly (about)
Fireflies are flying over the rice fields.
Expressions 鳴な く 蝉せみ よりも 鳴な かぬ 蛍ほたる が 身み を 焦こ がす empty vessels make the most noise; the silent firefly burns with more passion than the crying cicada Word family· 11 firefly squid; sparkling enope squid
glow of a firefly · nearly extinguished fire; embers
Hotaria parvula (species of firefly)
sea firefly; seed shrimp
fluorite; fluorspar
Show 6 more dayflower
Scirpus hotarui; a species of bulrush
Pidorus glaucopis (species of moth)
bellflower; Campanula punctata
Genji firefly; Luciola cruciata
Written forms ホタル Usage 46%
kana-only spelling
Common katakana spelling; usually written in kana.
蛍ほたる Usage 28%
Kanji spelling; the word is usually written in kana, but this form appears in literature and proper names.
ほたる Usage 17%
Common hiragana spelling; usually written in kana.
螢ほたる Usage 9%
Etymology The word is native Japanese. The kanji 蛍 is a phono-semantic compound, but the reading ほたる is not derived from the kanji; it is a kun'yomi reading. The origin of the Japanese word itself is uncertain.
firefly watching · firefly catching
Outdated kanji form; included for recognition of older texts.
