何の言葉18 ぴったり (pittari)

Hi!

How did you find our story in last week’s newsletter on 食べ歩き at Yokohama Chinatown? (If you missed it, click here to read it)

We didn’t think much when writing it at first, but it turned out to be the perfect story to use many 何の言葉 words!

Today’s 何の言葉 has a similar meaning to ちょうど, but it has different nuances, so you can spend some time to see the differences 🐣

What does ぴったり mean?

ぴったり (pittari) generally means something that “fits perfectly”. Here, we broke them down into three categories:

1. Fit or stick 2 items tightly

When 2 things fit tightly with “no gap or room between them”:

• 部屋の角にぴったりおさまる机がほしい。
  (Heya no kado ni pittari osamaru tsukue ga hoshii.)
  I want a desk which fits perfectly in the corner of the room.

• ガラスの靴は、シンデレラの足にぴったり入った。
  (Garasu no kutsu wa, shinderera no ashi ni pittari haitta.)
  The glass slipper fit exactly with Cinderella’s foot.

We use it in this way too; when an object sticks tightly on something liquid and can be hardly separated.

• 汗でTシャツが体にぴったりして、気持ち悪い。
  (Ase de tiishatsu ga karada ni pittari shite, kimochi warui.)
  The T-shirt is sticking on my body with sweat, it feels uncomfortable.

• ２つをボンドでぴったりくっつけた。
  (Futatsu wo bondo de pittari kuttsuketa.)
  I stuck these two together tightly with bond glue.

2. Exactly (not more, not less)

It can be used to describe the exactness of numbers, price, size or prediction. Note: It is similar to ちょうど in the previous newsletter. For example:

• 彼はぴったり10時にここに来た。
  (Kare wa pittari juu ji ni koko ni kita.)
  He came here at exactly 10:00.

• スーツケースの重さはぴったり7キロだった。
  (Suutsu keesu no omosa wa pittari nana kiro datta.)
  The weight of the suitcase was exactly 7kg.

• 予想がぴったり当たる。
  (Yosou ga pittari ataru.)
  The prediction is perfectly accurate.

3. Suitable, go well together

• このソファには、このクッションがぴったりだと思う。
  (Kono sofaa niwa, kono kusshon ga pittari da to omou.)
  I think this cushion matches perfectly with this sofa.

• 水色のドレスが、彼女にぴったりだね。
  (Mizuiro no doresu ga, kanojo ni pittari da ne.)
  The light blue dress suits her perfectly.

• 彼女はこのチームのリーダーにぴったりだ。
  (Kanojo wa kono chiimu no riidaa ni pittari da.)
  She is the most suitable person to be the leader of this team.

How to write ぴったり:

It is usually written in hiragana, but we sometimes write it in katakana: ピッタリ.

Similar English phrases:

“exactly”
“fits perfectly”
“suits perfectly”
“spot on”

 💡 Pitatto, petatto

We did some research about the origin of ぴったり, and it seems that originates from the sound “pita” in Japanese which is the sound of something sticking, like sticking a sticker.

So ぴったり is also related to other onomatopeia (words that resemble the sound) such as ぴたっと (pitatto) and ぺたっと (petatto).

Similar Japanese phrases:

ちょうど（choudo）*No.2 meaning of ぴったり
似合う（niau）*No.3 meaning