Word
びっしょり
Meaning in Englishwet through, drenched
Word context
What it means
What does びっしょり mean? It denotes a state of being thoroughly wet, describing clothing, hair, or a person after exposure to water such as rain or sweat.
Main meanings
- Completely soaked, typically after rain, swimming, or sweating
- Describes clothing or hair that has absorbed a lot of water and feels very damp
- Conveys moisture to the degree of soaking through to the skin in extreme cases
How to use it
Used in casual speech and writing to express a strong degree of wetness after rain, sweating, or water activity; often appears before nouns to describe a state (びっしょりの服) or after verbs (髪がびっしょり濡れる).
Variants and close terms
- ずぶぬれ (zubunure) — drenched
- びしょぬれ (bishonure) — drenched
- びしょびしょ (bishobisho) — soaking wet
Etymology
giseigo or onomatopoeic mimetic word that intensifies the sense of wetness; formed as a reduplicative, kana-only term that emphasizes thorough wetness and pairs with verbs like 濡れる.
Word class
adverb (副詞)