しらばっくれる

also: しらばくれる

し

ら

ば

っ

く

れ

る

Meanings

1

ichidan verb, intransitive verb

play dumb; feign ignorance; act innocent

Colloquial verb for pretending not to know something, often when one is clearly involved or aware. Carries a nuance of willful denial or evasion.

彼かれは知しっているくせに、しらばっくれて何なにも言いわなかった。
Even though he knew, he played dumb and said nothing.

しらばっくれる

の

は

やめ

て

、

本ほん

当とう

の

こと

を

話はな

し

て

。

Stop acting innocent and tell me the truth.

Written forms

しらばっくれるUsage65%
Most common spelling; the word is normally written in kana.
しらばくれるUsage26%
Variant without the geminate consonant; less common but still used.
白しらばくれるUsage9%
search-only kanji form
Search-only kanji form; rarely used in practice.

Kanji

白white

Similar words

とぼける
Also means 'to play dumb' but is more general and can be used in lighter, joking contexts. しらばっくれる is stronger and implies a more deliberate, often stubborn, denial of knowledge.
知しらんぷり
Noun/suru-verb meaning 'pretending not to know' or 'ignoring'. しらばっくれる focuses on verbal denial, while 知らんぷり can be non-verbal as well.

Etymology

Derived from しらばくれる, itself from しら (white, implying innocence) + ばくれる (to feign ignorance). The geminate form しらばっくれる is an emphatic variant. The exact origin of ばくれる is uncertain.