濁る

にごる
JLPT:N2
Frequency:
1

To become muddy, cloudy, or turbid (of a liquid or gas); to lose clarity.

U-VerbIntransitive Verb

Examples

雨が続いて川の水が濁っている。

The river water is turbid because of consecutive rains.

砂をかき混ぜたら水がすぐに濁った。

When I stirred up the sand, the water immediately became cloudy.

検査のために濁った試料を濾過した。

I filtered the turbid sample for testing.

2

To become dull, indistinct, or muffled (of a sound, color, or image); to become hoarse.

U-VerbIntransitive Verb

Examples

長時間話していたら声が濁ってきた。

After talking for a long time, my voice became hoarse.

夕暮れで景色の輪郭が濁って見える。

At dusk the contours of the landscape look blurred.

写真の色が古くなって濁っている。

The colors in the photograph have faded and become dull.

3

To become morally impure or corrupted (of a heart, society, etc.); to be polluted or corrupted.

U-VerbIntransitive Verb

Examples

権力が集中すると政治が濁る危険がある。

When power concentrates, there is a danger of politics becoming corrupt.

裏金の問題で会社の評判が濁った。

The company's reputation was tarnished by the slush fund scandal.

彼は長年の苦労で心が濁ってしまったと感じている。

He feels his heart has become tainted after many years of hardship.

4

In phonetics, to become voiced—when an unvoiced consonant is pronounced as a voiced one (e.g., か→が).

U-VerbIntransitive Verb

Examples

日本語では語頭の /k/ が前の母音の影響で濁ることは少ないが、連濁で濁る例がある。

In Japanese, initial /k/ rarely becomes voiced due to a preceding vowel, but there are cases of voicing in rendaku (sequential voicing).

連濁によって『手 + 紙』が『てがみ』のように濁る。

Through rendaku, 'te + kami' becomes 'tegami', with voicing.

方言では有声化して濁る音が多い地域もある。

There are dialect areas where many sounds become voiced.

Word Relationships

Antonym
Derivations
Masu-Form濁ります
Nai-Form濁らない
Ta-Form濁った
Te-Form濁って
Ba-Form濁れば
Volitional Form濁ろう
Imperative Form濁れ
Potential Form濁れる
Passive Form濁られる
Causative Form濁らせる
Causative Passive Form濁らせられる