遡さかのぼる

さ

か

の

ぼ

る

Common wordJLPTN2Freq.FrequencyTop 10,000

Meanings

1

godan verb (-ru), intransitive verb

go upstream; go up a river

usually written using kana alone

Physical movement against the current of a river or stream.

鮭さけは産さん卵らんのために川かわをさかのぼる。
Salmon go up the river to spawn.
私わたしたちは小こ舟ぶねで川かわをさかのぼった

。

We went up the river in a small boat.

2

godan verb (-ru), intransitive verb

go back in time; date back to; trace back to; be retroactive

usually written using kana alone

Used for tracing origins, history, or making something effective from an earlier date. Often used with ～に or ～まで.

このお寺てらの歴れき史しは平へい安あん時じ代だいにさかのぼる。
The history of this temple dates back to the Heian period.
問もん題だいの原げん因いんをさかのぼって調しらべる。
We trace back the cause of the problem to investigate.
新あたらしい規き則そくは先せん月げつにさかのぼって適てき用ようされる。
The new rule will be applied retroactively to last month.

Written forms

遡さかのぼるUsage34%
Standard kanji spelling; the most common written form.
さかのぼるUsage62%
Kana spelling is very common and often preferred in everyday writing.
溯さかのぼるUsage4%
rarely-used kanji form
Rarely used kanji form; 遡 is the standard.
泝さかのぼるUsage<1%
rarely-used kanji form
Rarely used kanji form; very uncommon.
逆さか上のぼる
rarely-used kanji form
Rarely used kanji form; may be encountered in older texts.

Kanji

遡go upstream, retrace the past
溯go upstream, retrace the past
泝go upstream
逆

Similar words

下くだる
Means 'to go down' (a river, road, etc.), the opposite direction of さかのぼる.
遡そ及きゅう
A more formal noun meaning 'retroactivity'; used in legal or official contexts, while さかのぼる is a verb used in everyday language.

Etymology

Compound of 逆 (saka, 'reverse') + 上る (noboru, 'go up'). The kanji 遡 is a phono-semantic compound with 辶 (movement) and 朔 (saku, phonetic), originally meaning 'go against the current'.

inverted, reverse, opposite

上above, up