Translation guide
The organ spleen, and related figurative expressions for anger or melancholy.
The physical spleen organ in the body.
Expressing anger, irritability, or venting one's spleen.
vent one's spleen · in a fit of spleen
Literally 'to hurl one's anger', a natural way to express venting anger or spleen.
彼は私に怒りをぶちまけた。
He vented his spleen on me.
Old-fashioned sense of spleen as low spirits or melancholy.
a fit of the spleen · suffering from spleen
The English figurative 'spleen' (anger or melancholy) does not translate directly to 脾臓. Use the appropriate emotional expression instead.
I injured my spleen in the accident.
Abbreviated form used mainly in medical compounds or traditional East Asian medicine contexts.
脾の働きを漢方で整える。
Regulate spleen function with Kampo medicine.
To take out one's anger on someone/something unrelated; implies misdirected spleen.
上司に怒られて、家で家族に八つ当たりした。
After being scolded by my boss, I vented my spleen on my family at home.
A fit of temper or rage; can correspond to 'spleen' in literary contexts, but more about sudden outbursts.
彼はちょっとしたことで癇癪を起こす。
He flies into a spleen over little things.
General term for melancholy or depression; captures the gloomy sense of 'spleen'.
彼は急に憂鬱に襲われた。
He was suddenly overcome by spleen.
A literary word for languid melancholy or listlessness, close to the archaic spleen.
秋の午後、物憂さに沈む。
On an autumn afternoon, I sink into spleen.