1.
foam, froth, bubbles
Foam or bubbles that form on the surface of a liquid.
波が泡沫を立てる。
Waves form foam.
海面に白い泡沫が浮かんでいた。
White foam was floating on the surface of the sea.
川の流れが速い場所には、泡沫が絶えず生じている。
Foam constantly forms where the river current is fast.
2.
ephemeral, fleeting
Something that vanishes quickly like a bubble, used figuratively to describe transient or short-lived things.
泡沫のような夢だった。
It was a fleeting dream.
バブル経済は泡沫のごとく消えた。
The bubble economy vanished like foam.
彼の成功は泡沫のように儚く、すぐに忘れられてしまった。
His success was as ephemeral as foam and was quickly forgotten.
Can be read as ほうまつ or うたかた, with うたかた being more literary and poetic. The word evokes imagery of bubbles rising and bursting, which is a classic metaphor for impermanence in Japanese literature.
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 泡沫候補: minor candidate, fringe candidate
- 泡沫企業: fly-by-night company
- 泡沫のように消える: to vanish like foam
- 泡沫の夢: a fleeting dream
CULTURAL NOTE:
The famous opening of 鴨長明's 方丈記 uses the image of foam on water (水の泡) to express the Buddhist concept of impermanence (無常). The figurative sense of 泡沫 draws on this literary tradition.
SIMILAR WORDS:
- 泡: bubble, foam — the everyday word for physical bubbles
- 儚い: ephemeral, transient — an adjective expressing the same fleeting quality