深淵(しんえん)

しんえん
noun
abyss, depths
formalliterary
1. abyss, deep pool, depths
A deep, seemingly bottomless body of water or chasm. Used literally for deep waters and figuratively for profound, unknowable, or dangerous depths of the mind, evil, or abstract concepts.
深淵(しんえん)を覗(のぞ)き込(こ)んだ。
I peered into the abyss.
人間(にんげん)の心(こころ)の深淵(しんえん)は計(はか)り知(し)れない。
The depths of the human heart are unfathomable.
深淵(しんえん)を覗(のぞ)く者(もの)は、深淵(しんえん)からも覗(のぞ)き返(かえ)されている。
He who gazes into the abyss finds the abyss gazing back into him.
A well-known paraphrase of Nietzsche, frequently quoted in Japanese.

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A literary and formal word. In everyday speech, 底(そこ)なし or simply 深(ふか)い穴(あな) would be used. 深淵(しんえん) carries a philosophical or dramatic weight and appears frequently in literary, philosophical, and religious contexts.

Usage

The Nietzsche quotation 深淵(しんえん)を覗(のぞ)く者(もの)は… is widely known in Japanese and has made this word familiar even to non-literary readers.

Common collocations

Related Words

Related: 淵(ふち) (abyss, deep pool)
general
Added 2026.2.24 21:42 · Revised 2026.9.2 13:01
13000/13434_shinen