〜まみれ (~mamire) — covered in ~
A body or a thing smeared all over with sweat, mud, oil and the like.
Formula (सूत्र ढाँचा)
Grammar rule (व्याकरण नियम र परिभाषा)
When to use it
After a full summer day on a building site, your shirt is soaked with sweat and your trousers caked in mud. A Japanese co-worker laughs: 「汗まみれ、泥まみれだね」.
Meaning
- 「〜まみれ」says the surface of a body or thing is completely coated with something dirty or sticky — sweat, mud, blood, oil, dust.
- It is used figuratively too: 借金まみれ (drowning in debt), 嘘まみれ (riddled with lies).
How to attach
Attach it as N + まみれ; then 「まみれになる」「まみれの + N」「まみれだ」.
Versus what you know
- N3The difference from the 「〜だらけ」: だらけ = many separate things scattered about (傷だらけ・間違いだらけ・ゴミだらけ); まみれ = something smeared all over the surface.
- Don't mix it up with 「ずくめ」in this lesson either — ずくめ is for colours and events, まみれ for dirt.
Watch out
- That's why you can't say 「間違いまみれ」or 「傷まみれ」.
- The key rule: it is always for something bad or unpleasant; you can't use it for being full of good things.
Examples (उदाहरणहरू)
工場で一日働いて、作業服が油まみれになった。
こうじょうでいちにちはたらいて、さぎょうふくがあぶらまみれになった。
After a full day at the factory, my work clothes were covered in oil.
How it is built (कसरी बन्यो) 作業服 = work clothes → 油 = oil, grease → 「まみれ」= smeared all over the surface → 「になった」= became like that.
雨の中の試合で、選手たちは泥まみれになって走った。
あめのなかのしあいで、せんしゅたちはどろまみれになってはしった。
In the match in the rain, the players ran on, covered in mud.
How it is built (कसरी बन्यो) 泥 = mud → 「まみれ」= covered in it all over → 「になって」 → 走った = ran.
彼はギャンブルで借金まみれになり、家族とも離れてしまった。
かれはギャンブルでしゃっきんまみれになり、かぞくともはなれてしまった。
Gambling left him drowning in debt, and he even lost his family.
How it is built (कसरी बन्यो) 借金 = debt → 「まみれ」= surrounded by nothing but debt (figurative) → 「になり」 → 家族とも離れてしまった = ended up separated from his family too → always a negative meaning.
Knowledge check (मिनी ज्ञान जाँच)
「子どもたちは公園で遊んで、泥＿＿帰ってきた。」— fill the blank.
💡 Hint: まみれ works like a noun; 'came home in that state'.
N + まみれ + で = in that state. 泥まみれで帰ってきた = came home covered in mud. 「泥まみれる」「泥まみれた」don't work (as a verb it's 「泥にまみれて」).
In which sentence is 「まみれ」unnatural?
💡 Hint: Smeared over a surface, or scattered here and there?
Mistakes don't coat a surface; they are scattered about — so 「間違いだらけ」. Sweat, dust and blood do cling, so まみれ is right for them.
「台所の換気扇が＿＿で、真っ黒になっている。」— fill the blank.
💡 Hint: Greasy dirt stuck on it.
油まみれ = covered in grease. 「ずくめ」is for colours or events, 「ぐるみ」for groups of people, 「並み」for comparing levels — none fits dirt.
Your score: /3