Japanese Language Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for students, teachers, and linguists wanting to discuss the finer points of the Japanese language. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
How can I express the idea that one word sounds like another?
As a concrete example, I wanted to say, 「フライアー」sounds like 「fryer」.
Looking in dictionaries (wadoku/jisho) for "sound like" turns up 「がましい」, but I could only find one example sentence with that phrase on tatoeba, and it was used in a different way ("that sounds too forward").
Is there a better way to express what I want to say? Or, if がましい is actually correct, how exactly would I use this expression?
I think you can use
XXはYYのように聞こえる
XXはYYみたいに聞こえる
XXはYYに聞こえる
XXはYYに(音が)似ている
XXはYYみたい(だ)
etc.
For example...
「Sit down please」は「しらんぷり」のように聞こえます。
「I get off」って、「揚げ豆腐」みたいに聞こえるね。(casual)
「フライアー」は、「fryer」に聞こえます。
「You know me」は、「湯飲み」に(音が)似ていますね。
「What time」って、「掘った芋」みたいだね。(casual)
がましい is used in set phrases like おこがましい、差し出がましい、未練がましい、押し付けがましい、言い訳がましい、恩着せがましい...
