映る
Meaning in Englishbe reflected, appear on screen
Animated kanji stroke order
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Word context
What it means
To be reflected or shown: a surface such as water, a mirror, or a screen carries an image back to the viewer, and the verb is used to describe that reflected or displayed appearance in everyday and media contexts.
Main meanings
- to be reflected on a surface such as water or a mirror, capturing an image returned by light
- to be shown or projected on a screen or in media, as in television or cinema
- to appear in a photograph or image captured by a camera
How to use it
Primarily intransitive; used with surfaces or displays (鏡に映る, 水に映る, テレビに映る); formal and informal registers both apply, with polite forms 映ります in speeches and writings and casual forms 映る in everyday talk about appearances on screens or in reflections.
Variants and close terms
- 写る utsuru — to appear in a photo or image; closely related sense of becoming part of an image
- 現れる Arawareru — to appear; related concept of emergence or appearance in a broader sense
Composition
- 映: light or reflected image; the character conveys the idea of light returning to the viewer, forming an image on a surface
Etymology
etimologia 映 combines 日 (sun) with the component 央, signaling light emitting or reflecting toward a center; the kun reading うつる develops from the native sense of an image forming on a surface, while the on reading 映 is used in compounds like 映画.
Origin
Classical usage links reflective imagery to mirrors and water in literature, with modern usage expanding to screens and media representations; the concept of imagery appearing on a surface has long-standing presence in Japanese, continuing into contemporary narration and media terminology.
Word class
verb (intransitive)