other N1 uncommon casualwritten
まみれ — covered/smeared all over with ~
まみれ
Meaning
- covered/smeared all over with ~ — a surface coated in an unpleasant substance (mud, blood, sweat, dust); always messy and negative
Key sentence
子どもたちは泥まみれになって遊んでいた。
The children were playing covered in mud.
Formation
| Attaches to | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun (usually a liquid or fine powder) | N + まみれ (の / になる) | 血まみれ / 汗まみれ / ほこりまみれ |
When: Describes an unpleasant, messy coating; both speech and writing.
Examples
作業員は油まみれの手を洗った。
The worker washed his oil-covered hands.
試合のあと、彼は汗まみれだった。
After the match, he was drenched in sweat.
会社は借金まみれで倒産した。
The company went under, buried in debt.
When you can't use it
- The noun is a substance that physically clings to and coats a surface (mud, blood, sweat, oil, dust). Figurative use is limited to set phrases like 借金まみれ — it does not freely take scattered, countable objects.
Easily confused with
〜だらけ だらけ = lots of *scattered, countable* things or flaws all over (間違いだらけ); まみれ = a *substance* uniformly coating a surface (泥まみれ). 血まみれ 'smeared with blood' vs 血だらけ 'blood spattered everywhere'. 〜ずくめ ずくめ = entirely *composed of* one thing (黒ずくめ all-black), neutral-to-positive; まみれ = physically *coated in* a dirty substance, always negative.
See まみれ in real sentences
Jengo shows まみれ 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.