从枝叶缝隙间漏下来的阳光——林间地上那些晃动的光斑。 Sunlight filtering down through leaves — the shifting dapples it throws on the ground.
Sunlight filtering down through leaves — the shifting dapples it throws on the ground. 从枝叶缝隙间漏下来的阳光——林间地上那些晃动的光斑。
词源etymology
木（树）＋ 漏れ（漏）＋ 日（日光）——「树漏下来的日光」。 三个成分都是日语里最日常的词，拼起来就是词义，透明得像它描写的那束光。
木 (tree) + 漏れ (leak) + 日 (sunlight) — “sunlight leaking through trees.” All three parts are everyday Japanese; the compound simply is its meaning, transparent as the light it names.
背景the story
在日语里这是个平常词：《デジタル大辞泉》《日本国語大辞典》都收， 定义都朴素得只有一句——「从枝叶间漏进来的日光」。不是诗语，散步的人就这么说。
英语没有对应的单词，于是它成了「不可翻译的美丽词汇」清单上的常客， 传播时常被加上一层「日本人独有的自然观」的滤镜。其实词典定义里没有任何玄学：就是光。 真正的差别很简单——英语需要一个短语，日语只要三个字。
An ordinary word in Japanese: both the Daijisen and the Nihon Kokugo Daijiten carry it, each with a one-line definition — sunlight coming in through gaps in foliage. Not a poet’s word; people say it on walks.
English has no single word for it, so it became a fixture of “untranslatable words” lists, usually wearing a mystical filter about the uniquely Japanese feeling for nature. The dictionary entry contains no mysticism. It is light. The real difference is small and stubborn: English needs a phrase; Japanese needs three characters.
中文里的邻居neighbors in chinese
汉语没有单一对应词，但有一整个现成的意象库：「疏影」「斑驳」「树影婆娑」。 只是取景框的方向不同——中文这些词对着地上的影，komorebi 对着漏下来的光。 同一片树林，一个语言看见影子，一个语言看见光；取景框的方向，就是两种语言各自的性情。
Chinese has no single word either, but it owns a ready image-bank: 疏影 (sparse shadows), 斑驳 (mottled), 树影婆娑 (tree-shadows swaying). The viewfinder simply points the other way — those words watch the shadows on the ground; komorebi watches the light coming down. Same grove, two temperaments.
They stopped talking for a moment and just walked, the komorebi sliding over their shoulders like slow water. 自拟例句 our own example, not a quotation The nursery was on the wrong side of the building for komorebi, so she painted some onto the ceiling. 自拟例句 our own example, not a quotation Photographers call it dappled light and meter for it; the Japanese simply have a noun — komorebi — and stand in it. 自拟例句 our own example, not a quotation 日语真词，英语词典未收。 英文正式写作慎用；创意写作可用，斜体 komorebi， 首次出现给一句解释。中文写作不必借词——那束光，中文自己写得出来。
A real Japanese word; not in English dictionaries. Risky in formal English prose. In creative writing, italicize komorebi and gloss it once. In Chinese, don’t borrow it — Chinese can write that light itself.