知ったかぶり – Do you know what Shittakaburi means?
知ったかぶり is a must-know word in Japanese. This word refers to people who pretend to know something that they don’t really know. Let’s take a look.
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The Meaning of 知ったかぶり
知ったかぶり means someone that is pretending to know something. It comes from the two words. First, 知る which means to know.
知る – Shiru in Japanese
Next, 振り is a word that means a few different things and is the second part of 知ったかぶり. When this is used with different nouns it can be pronounced ぶり or sometimes it becomes っぷり.
- 話しぶり – The way someone talks
- 飲みっぷり – The way someone drinks
You can see that it is used to talk about how someone does something, or their appearance when they are doing it. 振り is also used after verbs. In this case, it means to pretend to do something.
寝たふりをする
to pretend to be sleeping
So, put the two words, 知る and 振り together and you get, 知ったかぶり, with a か in the center for some reason. It may be that this is because 知ったか is an abbreviation for something, or that か was added to 知ったふり, or some other reason. I am not going to pretend to know it all.
https://japaneseuniverse.com/2024/02/18/pac-man-in-japaneseconcepts-behind-development-to-global-icon/Translating 知ったかぶり from Japanese to English
The closest translation of 知ったかぶり in English is Know-it-all. But, this word actually does not mean the same thing. In English, know-it-all means someone that is claiming to know everything and may be unwilling to take advice or feedback. The emphasis is more on the person flaunting their knowledge or lack of knowledge.
知ったかぶり also means someone that is giving the appearance of knowing everything. But, the word 知ったかぶり actually is closer to someone pretending to know everything but actually not truly knowing.
Specific Situations when to use 知ったかぶり
You say 知ったかぶりwhen you are talking about someone’s behavior. That is when someone is being a know-it-all.
知ったかぶりばっかりする人は嫌われやすい
Know-it-alls are easily disliked
If we break down the two sentences in English and Japanese, we have a slight difference. In English we say know-it-alls which refer to the actual person. In Japanese however, you say 知ったかぶりをする人 which means someone that is being a know-it-all.
ジョンの知ったかぶりにはもう耐えられない
I can’t bear John’s know-it-all (behavior) anymore
So above you can see that 知ったかぶり is said as is without using する. Here, it is explaining a type of behavior.
