～だらけ

• Reading: だらけ
• Romaji: darake
• Formation: Noun + だらけ

Meaning

A suffix meaning 'covered with,' 'full of,' or 'riddled with,' indicating that something or someone is filled with an undesirable substance or quality.

だらけ attaches to nouns to express that something is covered in or full of an unwanted element. The resulting form functions as a の-noun (だらけの + noun). It almost always carries a negative connotation — ゴミだらけ (covered in trash), 間違いだらけ (full of mistakes), 傷だらけ (covered in wounds). Unlike まみれ, which emphasizes physical surface coating (often liquids), だらけ can be used for both physical and abstract undesirable elements. It differs from ばかり, which means 'nothing but' without necessarily implying something negative. だらけ is highly productive and commonly used in everyday conversation.

Examples

1. 子どもが泥だらけになって帰ってきた。 The child came home covered in mud.
2. この報告書は間違いだらけで使えない。 This report is full of mistakes and unusable.
3. 道がゴミだらけだったので掃除することにした。 The road was covered in trash, so I decided to clean it up.

Usage Guide

Context: spoken, written, everyday

Tone: critical

Do Say

• 引っ越したばかりの部屋はほこりだらけだった。
• 彼のノートは落書きだらけだ。
• 猫が毛だらけのソファーで寝ている。

Don't Say

• 花だらけの庭はきれいだ。(Using だらけ for something positive — だらけ implies an undesirable excess; use いっぱい or 満開 for flowers) → 花いっぱいの庭はきれいだ。
• 泥のだらけになった。(Inserting の between the noun and だらけ — だらけ attaches directly to the noun: 泥だらけ) → 泥だらけになった。

Origin & History

だらけ likely derives from an emphasis form of the auxiliary たり or だ, evolving to express an excessive, undesirable state of being covered or filled with something.

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal