訥とつ々とつ

と

つ

と

つ

Meanings

taru-adjective, adverb taking the 'to' particle

Describes speech that is hesitant, broken, or delivered with difficulty. Often used with verbs like 話す or 語る, and commonly takes the と particle. The word itself is somewhat literary.

彼かれは訥とつ々とつと自じ分ぶんの意い見けんを述のべた。
He haltingly expressed his opinion.
訥とつ々とつとした話はなし方かただったが、内ない容ようは深ふかかった。
It was a faltering way of speaking, but the content was profound.

Kanji

訥stutter
吶stutter

Related words

どもる
どもる is a verb meaning 'to stutter' or 'to stammer' as a speech disorder or habit, while 訥々 describes the manner of speech itself as halting or faltering, often in a literary context.
たどたどしい
たどたどしい is an adjective meaning 'awkward' or 'halting' in speech or movement, more colloquial and broader than 訥々, which is specifically for speech and has a literary tone.

Written forms

訥とつ々とつUsage46%
Standard kanji form using the repetition mark 々. The kanji 訥 means 'stutter' or 'hesitate in speech'.
とつとつUsage50%
Kana spelling is common in modern writing, especially when the kanji are considered obscure.
吶とつ吶とつUsage4%
Full kanji repetition form of the variant 吶々.
訥とつ訥とつ
Full kanji repetition form, less common than 訥々.
吶とつ々とつ
Variant kanji form using 吶, which also means 'stutter' or 'slow of speech'.

Etymology

The word is a reduplication of the kanji 訥 (or 吶), which carries the meaning 'stutter' or 'hesitate in speech'. The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but it likely originated as a mimetic or onomatopoeic expression for hesitant speech.