rivulet
小川
解説 Definition
小さな川や流れ。細い流れの水。
A rivulet is a very small stream of water. It can refer to a narrow natural flow in the countryside or even a thin line of liquid moving slowly. The word is more descriptive and literary than common everyday words like stream.
覚え方のコツ Memory Tip
river に形がかなり近いので、まず「水の流れの仲間」と結びつける。さらに語尾 -let は booklet などと同じく「小さいもの」を作る形として見ると、rivulet は「小さな river」と覚えやすい。意味のスケールでは river ほど大きくなく、stream や brook に近いが、rivulet は特に「細くきらきら流れる一筋の水」の印象が強い。雨上がりの地面、山道の脇、雪解け水が細く流れる場面と一緒に覚えると定着する。
It looks a little like `river`, which helps you place it in the world of flowing water. The ending `-let` often makes a word smaller, so `rivulet` can feel like a "little river." Picture a thin line of water on a mountain path or after rain, and the word becomes easier to keep.
例文
A rivulet flows through the garden.
細い流れが庭を通っている。
The rivulet trickled through the meadow.
小川が草地をさらさらと流れていた。
Children played by the rivulet on a hot summer day.
子どもたちは暑い夏の日に小川のそばで遊んだ。
rivulet の類義語・関連語
紛らわしい語
rivulet の語源・成り立ち Etymology
rivulet はラテン語 rivulus「小川」に由来し、さらにその基の rivus は「流れ・小川」を意味しました。river や rival と同根で、rival がもとは「同じ川を使う人」だと知ると、rivulet の「細い流れ」という核も印象に残ります。
Rivulet comes from Latin rivulus, meaning "small stream," which is a diminutive form of rivus, "stream" or "brook." It entered English through French and kept the idea of a small flowing line of water. The root also appears in river, and in rival, which originally referred to people using the same stream. Over time, rivulet stayed focused on the image of a very small stream.
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