ぱらぱら

ぱらぱら
na-adjective, no-adjective, adverb, onomatopoeia
scattered; sprinkled; flipping (pages)
onomatopoeiaweatherdaily-life
1. lightly falling in scattered drops or pieces
Describes rain, snow, or small objects falling lightly and sparsely, not in a heavy continuous flow.
雨(あめ)がぱらぱら降(ふ)ってきた。
It started to sprinkle.
小雨(こさめ)がぱらぱらと降(ふ)っている。
A light rain is falling in scattered drops.
花(はな)びらがぱらぱらと散(ち)って地面(じめん)を覆(おお)った。
Petals fell lightly and scattered, covering the ground.
2. flipping through pages; leafing through
The sound or action of quickly turning pages of a book or magazine.
雑誌(ざっし)をぱらぱらめくる。
To flip through a magazine.
辞書(じしょ)をぱらぱらとめくって探(さが)した。
I flipped through the dictionary to look it up.
待(ま)ち時間(じかん)に本(ほん)をぱらぱらと読(よ)んでいた。
I was leafing through a book while waiting.
3. loose and separated; not clumped together
Describes grains like rice being nicely separated rather than sticky or clumped.
ぱらぱらの炒飯(チャーハン)が好(す)きだ。
I like fried rice with loose, separated grains.
強火(つよび)で炒(いた)めるとぱらぱらになる。
If you stir-fry on high heat, the grains come out nice and loose.
このレシピなら、家庭(かてい)でもぱらぱらの炒飯(チャーハン)が簡単(かんたん)に作(つく)れる。
With this recipe, you can easily make fried rice with perfectly separated grains even at home.

A versatile onomatopoeia with distinct but related meanings all sharing the image of light, scattered, discrete elements. Can be written with or without the particle と (ぱらぱらと or ぱらぱら).

Common collocations

  • ぱらぱら降(ふ)る: to sprinkle (rain)
  • ぱらぱらめくる: to flip through (pages)
  • ぱらぱらの炒飯(チャーハン): fried rice with separated grains

Similar words

  • ぽつぽつ: scattered drops — implies larger, more distinct drops
  • ざあざあ: heavy rain pouring — much heavier than ぱらぱら
  • ぺらぺら: flipping pages rapidly, or speaking fluently — different nuance

Related Words

Related: はらはら (anxiously; fluttering down)
Compare: ぽつぽつ (scattered drops)
Compare: ざあざあ (heavy rain pouring)
Compare: ぺらぺら (flipping pages rapidly, or speaking…)
Compare: しとしと (drizzling)

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Common Onomatopoeia and Mimetic Words
general
Added 2026.3.27 15:03 · Revised 2026.9.2 13:01
19500/19924_parapara