Meaning

Primary

To Be In A Photograph

Alternative

To Appear In A Photograph

Word Type

intransitive verb, godan verb

Explanation

This word consists of kanji with hiragana attached. Because the hiragana ends with an sound, you know this word is a verb. The kanji itself means copy, but what is a copy? It's basically a photograph, which is why this word means to be in a photograph.

In other words, this is the word you use when you point at a photo and say, "hey, I'm in this!" You know it means "to be in a photograph" because every time you appear in a photo, you're doing something rude (), like sticking your tongue out or giving someone the finger.

Reading

うつる
  • Kyoko
    (Tokyo accent, female)
  • Kenichi
    (Tokyo accent, male)

Explanation

Since this word consists of a kanji with hiragana attached, you can bet that it will use the kun'yomi reading. You learned that reading with the 写す vocab, but here's a refresher just in case:

You're going to be in a photograph in the newspaper. Why? Because you caused a scene by rudely beatboxing out in public: うつうつうつ. You're probably going to appear in people's photos all over social media too. Too bad those photos won't be able to convey the phat beats you were うつうつうつing into everyone's eardrums.

Context

Patterns of Use

Common Word Combinations

  • カメラに写る

    to appear in the camera

    レントゲンに写る

    to appear in an X-ray

    きれいに写る

    to come out beautifully in a photo

Context Sentences

父はビデオに写るのがきらいです。

My father doesn't like to be in videos.

白い花は、ウェディングフォトに写っていない。

White flowers are not in the wedding photo.

このカメラでは、木や山がよく写る。

You can take good pictures of trees and mountains with this camera.

Kanji Composition