particle N3 common casualpolitewritten
〜だらけ — covered in ~ / full of ~
〜だらけ ・ だらけ
Meaning
- covered in ~ / full of ~ / riddled with ~ — an excess of something, almost always unpleasant or messy
Key sentence
子供は泥だらけになって帰ってきた。
The kid came home covered in mud.
Formation
| Attaches to | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | N + だらけ | 傷だらけ / 間違いだらけ / 借金だらけ |
Examples
彼のレポートは間違いだらけだった。
His report was riddled with mistakes.
棚はほこりだらけで、誰も掃除していない。
The shelf is covered in dust — no one's been cleaning it.
When you can't use it
- Used for an unwelcome excess — dirt, wounds, errors, debts. It doesn't describe a pleasant abundance; 花だらけ for a lovely field of flowers sounds wrong (use 一面の花).
Easily confused with
っぽい だらけ means literally covered in or full of a physical thing (血だらけ = 'covered in blood'). っぽい says something resembles or has a quality (血っぽい = 'blood-like, reddish'). 〜気味 だらけ is a heavy, visible excess ('full of ~'). 気味 is the opposite extreme — just a faint touch of a state (疲れ気味 = 'a little tired').
See 〜だらけ in real sentences
Jengo shows 〜だらけ the way you actually meet it: inside real Japanese sentences, so it sticks instead of staying an abstract rule.
Study it in JengoSources Compiled with reference to A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar.