Translation guide
The English word "ecstasy" can refer to intense joy, a trance-like state, or the drug MDMA. This guide focuses on expressing overwhelming happiness and altered states of consciousness in Japanese.
Expressing a state of extreme happiness, bliss, or rapture.
Describing a state of altered consciousness, often spiritual or meditative, where one feels transported beyond normal awareness.
Self-oblivion, ecstasy, trance. A state where one loses sense of self, often in religious or artistic contexts.
Referring to the illegal recreational drug commonly known as Ecstasy.
While 恍惚 (こうこつ) and エクスタシー can mean ecstasy, they are strong words. For everyday extreme happiness, 有頂天 (うちょうてん) or simply とても嬉しい (とてもうれしい) is more natural. Using 恍惚 in casual conversation may sound overly dramatic or literary.
恍惚 (こうこつ) implies a dreamy, absorbed state of bliss, often used for aesthetic or spiritual experiences. 有頂天 (うちょうてん) is a more down-to-earth, idiomatic expression for being over the moon with joy, suitable for personal achievements or good news.
彼女は宝くじに当たって有頂天になった。
She was in ecstasy after winning the lottery.
その音楽は彼を恍惚とさせた。
The music filled him with ecstasy.
A state of ecstasy, rapture, or trance-like bliss. Often used in literary or descriptive contexts.
彼は恍惚とした表情で音楽を聴いていた。
He was listening to the music with an ecstatic expression.
To be in seventh heaven, to be ecstatic. A common idiomatic phrase for being overjoyed.
彼女は合格の知らせを聞いて有頂天になった。
She was ecstatic when she heard the news of passing the exam.
Loanword from English, used for ecstasy in the sense of intense joy, but can also refer to the drug. Context is important.
その演奏は観客をエクスタシーに導いた。
The performance led the audience into ecstasy.
Wild joy, ecstasy. Implies a more intense, almost frenzied happiness.
優勝の瞬間、彼は狂喜した。
At the moment of victory, he was ecstatic.
Feeling as if one is ascending to heaven; a poetic way to describe ecstasy.
その知らせに、彼は天にも昇る心地だった。
He felt ecstatic at the news.
彼は瞑想の中で忘我の境地に達した。
He reached a state of ecstasy in meditation.
Religious ecstasy, spiritual rapture. Specifically used for ecstasy in a religious or mystical context.
聖者は法悦に浸っていた。
The saint was immersed in religious ecstasy.
Trance. Loanword often used for hypnotic or shamanic states, but can overlap with ecstasy.
彼女はトランス状態で踊り続けた。
She kept dancing in a trance-like state.
The drug MDMA. This is the standard term in Japanese as well.
エクスタシーは違法薬物です。
Ecstasy is an illegal drug.
The chemical abbreviation, used in more formal or technical contexts.
MDMAの使用は深刻な健康被害をもたらす。
MDMA use causes serious health damage.