どんどん

どんどん is an onomatopoeic adverb describing rapid, continuous action or change. All three senses share the idea of momentum with nothing holding it back — a process that keeps going (sense 1), items arriving without pause (sense 2), or a listener told not to hold back (sense 3).

Position: usually immediately before the verb it modifies.

Onomatopoeia origin: originally mimics the sound of drums (ドンドン), extended to mean 'rapidly' or 'continuously.'

Similar expressions

• どんどん vs. だんだん: だんだん means 'gradually' (slow, incremental change); どんどん means 'rapidly.' Both fit 上手(じょうず)になる, but they describe different rates of improvement.
• どんどん vs. 徐々(じょじょ)に: 徐々(じょじょ)に is the written-style equivalent of だんだん and likewise implies slowness.
• どんどん vs. どしどし: both encourage action, but どしどし is more emphatic and casual, and is largely limited to that encouraging use.
• どんどん vs. 次々(つぎつぎ)に: 次々(つぎつぎ)に specifically means 'one after another' and says nothing about speed; どんどん emphasizes the pace.

Common usage

• どんどん〜てください: encouragement to do something freely, without holding back. This is a warm, hospitable formula, the natural counterpart of telling a guest not to 遠慮(えんりょ).
• どんどん〜ていく / どんどん〜ている: keep ~ing more and more; the 〜ていく version stresses that the change carries on into the future.

Orthography: usually written in hiragana.