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.
深淵を覗き込んだ。
I peered into the abyss.
人間の心の深淵は計り知れない。
The depths of the human heart are unfathomable.
深淵を覗く者は、深淵からも覗き返されている。
He who gazes into the abyss finds the abyss gazing back into him.
A well-known paraphrase of Nietzsche, frequently quoted in Japanese.
REGISTER:
A literary and formal word. In everyday speech, 底なし or simply 深い穴 would be used. 深淵 carries a philosophical or dramatic weight and appears frequently in literary, philosophical, and religious contexts.
USAGE:
The Nietzsche quotation 深淵を覗く者は… is widely known in Japanese and has made this word familiar even to non-literary readers.
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 深淵を覗く: to gaze into the abyss
- 深淵に落ちる: to fall into the abyss
- 心の深淵: the depths of the heart