集しゅう落らく

しゅ

う

ら

く

Common wordJLPTN1Freq.FrequencyTop 10,000

Meanings

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.

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.

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Usage patterns

〈場ば所しょ〉に集しゅう落らくができるa settlement forms in a place
川かわ沿ぞいに小ちいさな集しゅう落らくができた。
A small settlement formed along the river.
培ばい地ちに集しゅう落らくが現あらわれるa colony appears on a culture medium
培ばい地ちに細さい菌きんの集しゅう落らくが現あらわれた。
A bacterial colony appeared on the culture medium.
集しゅう落らくを形けい成せいするto form a settlement
この地ち域いきでは古こ代だいから人ひと々びとが集しゅう落らくを形けい成せいしてきた。
People have formed settlements in this area since ancient times.
集しゅう落らくが点てん在ざいするsettlements are scattered about
山さん間かん部ぶには小ちいさな集しゅう落らくが点てん在ざいしている。
Small settlements are scattered throughout the mountainous region.

Kanji

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

Related words

村そん落らく sense 1
村落 is a more formal or academic term for a village used in geography and sociology, while 集落 is the everyday word for any clustered settlement.
コロニー sense 2
コロニー is a katakana loanword often used for animal, insect, or human colonies, whereas 集落 is the native Japanese term also used specifically for bacterial colonies in biology.
村むらN5sense 1
村 is the plain, everyday word for a village, while 集落 is a more neutral, slightly technical term that can describe any cluster of dwellings regardless of administrative status.
部ぶ落らく
集落 is the neutral, standard term for a settlement or hamlet, while 部落 can refer to the same thing but carries sensitive historical connotations in many contexts.

Opposites

都と市しN3sense 1
都市 refers to a large city, the opposite of 集落, which denotes a small rural settlement or hamlet.

Don't confuse with

部ぶ落らく sense 1
部落 historically meant a small hamlet like 集落, but today it often carries associations with buraku discrimination in Japan, so 集落 is the safer, neutral word to use.

Word family

環かん濠ごう集しゅう落らく
moated settlement (Yayoi period)
限げん界かい集しゅう落らく
marginal village; depopulated village with mostly elderly residents

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

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'.