落ちる

Japanese

Kanji in this term
落
お Grade: 3
kun'yomi

Alternative spellings
堕ちる (negative connotations) 墜ちる零ちる (rare) 落る

Etymology

/otu/ → /ot͡su/ → /ot͡ɕiru/

Regular development from classical verb form 落つ (otsu, “to fall; to decline; to come to an end”). In turn, from Old Japanese 落つ (otu) of the same meaning,^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] from Proto-Japonic *ətu.

Development

Natural progression from Old and Classical Japanese 上二段活用 (kami nidan katsuyō, “upper bigrade conjugation”) verbs ending in -u to modern Japanese 上一段活用 (kami ichidan katsuyō, “upper monograde conjugation”) verbs ending in -iru. For the Old / Classical form, see the 落つ entry.

First attested in the Kojiki of 712 CE.^[2]

Via root ot-, cognate with 劣る (otoru, “to fail, to lose; to be of lower rank”, intransitive) and 落とす (otosu, “to drop something”, transitive). Additionally, cognate with Proto-Ryukyuan *ote (“to fall”).

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) おちる [òchíꜜrù] (Nakadaka – [2])^[4]^[6]
IPA^(key): [o̞t͡ɕiɾɯ̟]

Tokyo pitch accent of conjugated forms of 落ちる

Plain	落ちる	おちる	`[òchíꜜrù]`
Conjunctive	落ちて	おちて	`[óꜜchìtè]`
Perfective	落ちた	おちた	`[óꜜchìtà]`
Negative	落ちない	おちない	`[òchíꜜnàì]`
Negative perfective	落ちなかった	おちなかった	`[òchíꜜnàkàttà]`
Hypothetical conditional	落ちれば	おちれば	`[òchíꜜrèbà]`
Past conditional	落ちたら	おちたら	`[óꜜchìtàrà]`
Imperative	落ちろ落ちよ	おちろおちよ	`[òchíꜜrò]` `[òchíꜜyò]`
Volitional	落ちよう	おちよー	`[òchíyóꜜò]`
Desiderative	落ちたい	おちたい	`[òchítáꜜì]`
Formal	落ちます	おちます	`[òchímáꜜsù]`
Formal negative	落ちません	おちません	`[òchímáséꜜǹ]`
Formal volitional	落ちましょう	おちましょー	`[òchímáshóꜜò]`
Formal perfective	落ちました	おちました	`[òchímáꜜshìtà]`
Continuative	落ち落ちに	おちおちに	`[óꜜchì]` `[óꜜchì nì]`
Negative continuative	落ちず落ちずに	おちずおちずに	`[òchíꜜzù]` `[òchíꜜzù nì]`
Passive	落ちられる	おちられる	`[òchíráréꜜrù]`
Causative	落ちさせる落ちさす	おちさせるおちさす	`[òchísáséꜜrù]` `[òchísáꜜsù]`
Potential	落ちられる落ちれる	おちられるおちれる	`[òchíráréꜜrù]` `[òchíréꜜrù]`

Verb

落(お)ちる • (ochiru) intransitive ichidan (stem 落(お)ち (ochi), past 落(お)ちた (ochita))

Japanese verb pair
active	落とす
mediopassive	落ちる

to fall
りんごが木(き)から落(お)ちた。
Ringo ga ki kara ochita.
The apple fell from the tree.
(computing) to go down (as when a computer or application becomes unresponsive)
(electrical engineering, of a circuit breaker) to trip
ブレーカーが落(お)ちた
burēkā ga ochita
the circuit breaker tripped
(informal) to fail an examination
Antonym: 受かる (ukaru)
(Internet slang, chat, video games, etc., of a person) to leave; to sign off; to drop off; to drop
(informal) to be made available by someone else; to drop
ネットに落(お)ちてる画像(がぞう)
netto ni ochiteru gazō
images that can be found on the web

今日(きょう )Switch 2落(お)ちた
Kyō Switch 2 ochita
The Switch 2 dropped today.

Conjugation

Conjugation of "落ちる" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs)

Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective")	落ち	おち	ochi
Ren’yōkei ("continuative")	落ち	おち	ochi
Shūshikei ("terminal")	落ちる	おちる	ochiru
Rentaikei ("attributive")	落ちる	おちる	ochiru
Kateikei ("hypothetical")	落ちれ	おちれ	ochire
Meireikei ("imperative")	落ちよ¹ 落ちろ²	おちよ¹ おちろ²	ochiyo¹ ochiro²
Key constructions
Passive	落ちられる	おちられる	ochirareru
Causative	落ちさせる落ちさす	おちさせるおちさす	ochisaseru ochisasu
Potential	落ちられる落ちれる³	おちられるおちれる³	ochirareru ochireru³
Volitional	落ちよう	おちよう	ochiyō
Negative	落ちない落ちぬ落ちん	おちないおちぬおちん	ochinai ochinu ochin
Negative continuative	落ちず	おちず	ochizu
Formal	落ちます	おちます	ochimasu
Perfective	落ちた	おちた	ochita
Conjunctive	落ちて	おちて	ochite
Hypothetical conditional	落ちれば	おちれば	ochireba
¹ Written imperative ² Spoken imperative ³ Colloquial potential

Idioms

猿(さる)も木(き)から落(お)ちる (saru mo ki kara ochiru): “even monkeys fall from trees” → even the experts make mistakes
問(と)うに落(お)ちず語(かた)るに落(お)ちる (tō ni ochizu kataru ni ochiru)

Synonyms

(fall): 降(ふ)る (furu), 落(らっ)下(か)する (rakka suru)

Derived terms

飯(めし)落(お)ち (meshiochi)

References

^ Shinmura, Izuru, editor (1998), 広辞苑 [Kōjien] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, →ISBN
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 “落・堕・墜”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎^[1] (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006
^ “落ちる”, in デジタル大辞泉 [Digital Daijisen]‎^[2] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, updated roughly every four months
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
^ Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
^ Yamada, Tadao et al., editors (2011), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Seventh edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

“落ちる”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[3] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2025

[K-1] Shinmura, Izuru, editor (1998), 広辞苑 [Kōjien] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, →ISBN

[KDJ2-2] 2.0 ^2.1 “落・堕・墜”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎^[1] (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006

[DDJS-3] “落ちる”, in デジタル大辞泉 [Digital Daijisen]‎^[2] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, updated roughly every four months

[DJR-4] 4.0 ^4.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[SMK5-5] Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[SMK7-6] Yamada, Tadao et al., editors (2011), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Seventh edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

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