集しゅう落らく

しゅ

う

ら

く

Common wordJLPTN1Freq.FrequencyTop 10,000

Meanings

1

noun

settlement; village; community

Refers to a small human settlement, often in a rural or historical context. Can be used for any clustered group of dwellings, from a hamlet to a small town.

山さん間かんの小ちいさな集しゅう落らくに住すんでいる。
I live in a small mountain settlement.
この

地ち

域いき

に

は

古ふる

い

集しゅう

落らく

が

点てん

在ざい

し

て

いる

。

Old villages are scattered throughout this region.

2

noun

colony (bacterial)

biology

Only with reading しゅうらく

Biology term for a visible cluster of microorganisms growing on a solid medium. Restricted to the reading しゅうらく.

寒かん天てん培ばい地ちに細さい菌きんの集しゅう落らくが形けい成せいされた。
Bacterial colonies formed on the agar medium.

Written forms

集しゅう落らくUsage99%
Standard kanji spelling for both the settlement and biological colony senses.
聚落Usage1%
- しゅうらく
  Rare variant kanji form; 聚 is an older character for 'gathering'. The reading じゅらく is also possible but very rare.
- じゅらく
じゅらく

Kanji

集gather, meet, congregate
落fall, drop, come down
聚assemble

Similar words

村そん落らく
村落 is a more formal or academic term for a village or rural settlement, often used in geography or sociology. 集落 is more common in everyday language and can refer to any small clustered settlement.
町まち
町 is a broader term for a town or city district, typically larger and more urban than a 集落.

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 集落 (d͡ziɪp̚ lɑk̚), meaning 'gathering place' or 'settlement'. The kanji 集 means 'gather' and 落 means 'village' or 'hamlet'. The variant 聚落 uses the older character 聚 for 'gather'.