土砂降り

Japanese

Kanji in this term
土	砂	降
ど Grade: 1	しゃ Grade: 6	ふ > ぶ Grade: 6
kan'yōon	goon	kun'yomi

Alternative spellings
どしゃ降り土砂降

Etymology

Compound of 土砂 (dosha, “soil and sand”) +‎ 降り (furi, “falling”, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 降る furu, “to fall”, such as rain or other precipitation).^[1]^[2] The furi changes to buri as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

According to some sources,^[3] the dosha portion is from adverb どしゃくしゃ (doshakusha, “in a confusion, in a turmoil”), with the 土砂 spelling used as ateji (当て字). According to other sources,^[1] the dosha portion is a metaphor for heavy rain.

First appears in texts from the early 1900s.^[1]

Compare the English expressions to rain cats and dogs, or to rain pitchforks and hammer handles.

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) どしゃぶり [dòshábúrí] (Heiban – [0])^[2]^[4]^[3]
IPA^(key): [do̞ɕa̠bɯ̟ɾʲi]

Noun

土(ど)砂(しゃ)降(ぶ)り • (doshaburi)

a downpour, pelting rain

Usage notes

Unlike the synonyms, doshaburi is only used in reference to rain, and is not used to describe snowfall.

Synonyms

本降(ほんぶ)り (honburi): a real rainfall (also describes snowfall)
大降(おおぶ)り (ōburi): a big rainfall (also describes snowfall)

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

[KDJ-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN

[DJR-2] 2.0 ^2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[SMK5-3] 3.0 ^3.1 Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[NHK-4] NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

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