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跋扈 (ばっこ) Japanese meaning | Kotomora
Freq. Frequency Top 50,000 Conjugation Meanings 1
noun, noun or participle which takes 'suru', intransitive verb
rampancy ; prevalence ; domination
Describes something undesirable spreading or dominating widely, often with a negative connotation. Used for things like crime, corruption, or harmful trends. Often appears as 跋扈する.
悪あく 徳とく 商しょう 法ほう が 跋ばっ 扈こ する 社しゃ 会かい は 健けん 全ぜん と は 言い え ない 。
A society where fraudulent business practices are prevalent cannot be called healthy.
Written forms 跋ばっ 扈こ Usage 85%
Standard kanji form; the word is almost always written with these characters.
ばっこ Usage 15%
Similar words 蔓まん 延えん 蔓延 is more neutral and can refer to the spread of both positive and negative things (e.g., disease, ideas), while 跋扈 is strongly negative and implies harmful domination.
横おう 行こう 横行 also means 'being rampant' but often implies something bad happening openly and unchecked, similar to 跋扈, though 跋扈 carries a heavier, more literary tone.
Etymology From Chinese 跋扈 (báhù), originally meaning 'to step on' and 'to stop', later used to describe someone acting arrogantly or dominating. The exact semantic shift is uncertain, but the term has been used in Japanese with the sense of 'rampancy' since at least the Edo period.
