Word
無口
Meaning in Englishreticence
Animated kanji stroke order
Sentence
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Word context
What it means
無口 means taciturn or reticent: a person who tends not to speak much, especially in social situations, appearing calm and reserved.
Main meanings
- habitual reticence in conversation
- silence in group or public settings, sometimes read as politeness or self-restraint
- not necessarily shy; can reflect preference for listening
- may apply to moments of quiet in discussions, not just overall personality
How to use it
Used as a na-adjective to describe a person by a trait; appropriate in neutral descriptions and in both spoken and written Japanese; in formal writing it often conveys a reserved or low-verbosity persona rather than a defect, and it can describe habitual behavior or a temporary state in a discussion.
Variants and close terms
- 寡黙 kamoku — taciturn
- 口数が少ない kōsū ga sukunai — speaks little
- 静か shizuka — quiet
Composition
- 無: 'without, none'
- 口: 'mouth'
- the combination yields a sense of 'without mouth', i.e., not speaking
Etymology
無 (mu) + 口 (kuchi) combine to express the sense of 'without mouth'; the compound historically came to denote someone who speaks little, yielding the modern sense of taciturnity.
Word class
adjective (na-adjective, 形容動詞)
Word
Related words by kanji and components
N1
無知
muchi
ignorance
N1
無茶
mucha
absurd, unreasonable
N1
無茶苦茶
muchakucha
confused, jumbled, mixed up, unreasonable
N1
無念
munen
chagrin, regret
N1
無能
munou
inefficiency, incompetence
N1
無闇に
muyamini
unreasonably, absurdly, at random
N1
無用
muyou
useless, needlessness, unnecessariness
N1
無論
muron
of course, naturally
N2
～口
～kuchi
~ opening; ~ entrance, ~ exit
Kanji