Translation guide
The English phrase "dry up" has several distinct meanings. This guide covers the most common uses for learners: becoming dry (liquids evaporating), losing moisture (things drying out), and the figurative meaning of a supply or resource running out. It also includes the less common meaning of someone stopping talking.
To describe a liquid evaporating or a wet surface becoming dry.
Intransitive verb meaning 'to become dry'. Used for things like clothes, ground, or paint. For liquids disappearing, 乾く can be used when the focus is on the surface becoming dry.
洗濯物が乾いた。
The laundry dried up.
道路の水たまりが乾いた。
The puddles on the road dried up.
Specifically means 'to dry up' for bodies of water like rivers, lakes, or wells. Emphasizes complete drying.
日照りで川が干上がった。
The river dried up due to the drought.
Means 'to evaporate'. More scientific/technical. Use when emphasizing the process of liquid turning into vapor.
水たまりの水が蒸発した。
The water in the puddle evaporated (dried up).
To describe something losing its internal moisture, becoming dry and often hard or brittle.
Intransitive verb meaning 'to dry out', 'to become dry'. Used for skin, air, food, etc. Often implies an undesirable state.
冬は肌が乾燥しやすい。
My skin tends to dry up in winter.
パンが乾燥して固くなった。
The bread dried up and became hard.
Means 'to dry up completely', often with a shriveled or withered nuance. Used for food, plants, or even people in a figurative sense.
Specifically for plants 'to wither' or 'to die' from drying up. Not for general moisture loss.
To describe a source of something (money, ideas, conversation) gradually decreasing and eventually stopping.
Intransitive verb meaning 'to run out', 'to be exhausted'. Used for resources, patience, ideas, etc.
資金が尽きた。
The funds dried up.
話題が尽きて沈黙が続いた。
The conversation dried up and an awkward silence followed.
More formal/literary term for 'drying up' or 'being depleted', often used for natural resources or abstract supplies.
石油資源が枯渇しつつある。
Oil resources are drying up.
Specifically for wells or springs running dry. Can be used metaphorically for creativity.
To tell someone to be quiet or stop talking, often in a rude or angry way.
Rude command meaning 'Shut up!'. Equivalent to the imperative 'Dry up!'.
Very strong and impolite. Use only in extreme situations or with close friends jokingly.
黙れ！
Dry up!
Literally 'noisy', but used as 'Shut up!' or 'Be quiet!'. Less harsh than 黙れ but still rude.
うるさい！ちょっと黙って。
Dry up! Be quiet for a moment.
A more formal or authoritative way to say 'Be quiet!'. Often used by parents or teachers.
お黙りなさい！
Dry up! (Said sternly)
乾く (kawaku) is the general word for something becoming dry to the touch (clothes, ground). 乾燥する (kansō suru) emphasizes the process of losing internal moisture and is often used for skin, air, or food. 乾燥する can also be used as a transitive verb (to dry something out), while 乾く is only intransitive.
When talking about money or ideas 'drying up', avoid literal translations like お金が乾く (okane ga kawaku). Use 尽きる (tsukiru) or 枯渇する (kokatsu suru) instead.
干からびたミイラ
a dried-up mummy
植物が水不足で干からびた。
The plant dried up from lack of water.
The flowers dried up because I didn't water them.
The well dried up.