Word
Kana: あらわす Romaji: arawasu Level: N3

現す

Meaning in English

show, reveal, make visible

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Dictionary

Word context

What it means

現す means to bring into sight or make perceptible by presenting or expressing something that exists or is imagined, turning it into a visible or tangible form.

Main meanings

  • to reveal something hidden or not yet visible
  • to express or display an emotion, quality, or fact through action, speech, or appearance
  • to manifest or demonstrate a phenomenon in a tangible or narrative sense
  • to indicate or show something indirectly through description or portrayal

How to use it

Used as a transitive verb in formal and everyday contexts to reveal or make visible; common in written narrative, journalism, and technical writing; structured as Xを現す with concrete objects or ideas; in casual speech speakers may prefer 表す or 見せる for similar meaning.

Variants and close terms

  • 表す (arawasu) — to express, reveal
  • 示す (shimesu) — to indicate, demonstrate
  • 顕す (arawasu) — to reveal, make apparent (rare)

Composition

  • 現: present, appear, reality
  • す: verb-ending that turns the word into a verb

Etymology

現 denotes the present or appearance, and す is the verb ending; together they form a native Japanese verb meaning to make something present or to reveal.

Word class

verb (godan)

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