Nihoner
表層形
瞬い
シバタタイ
動詞

瞬い (シバタタイ)

Shibatatai · しばたたい — to twinkle (e.g. stars), to flicker, to waver; to blink (one's eyes), to wink, to bat; to blink (one's eyes) repeatedly

Other ways to say “to twinkle” in Japanese →

瞬い in rōmaji: shibatatai.

動詞 一般 * *
📝 瞬く 🔤 五段-カ行 📐 連用形-イ音便
Updated: 2026年9月16日
📖 Grammar Information
表層形 (Surface)
瞬い
見出し語 (Lemma)
瞬く
読み (Reading)
シバタタイ
品詞 (POS)
動詞・一般・*・*
活用型 (Conj. Type)
五段-カ行
活用形 (Conj. Form)
連用形-イ音便
表記 (Orthography)
瞬い
読み・基本形
シバタタク
表記・基本形
瞬く
見出し語の読み
シバタタク
How it's used

Used in literary or expressive contexts to describe stars twinkling, light flickering, or eyes blinking rapidly; more poetic than 瞬く(まばたく), which is everyday.

夜空で星が瞬いている。
Yozora de hoshi ga shibatatte iru.
Stars are twinkling in the night sky.

彼女は驚いて目を瞬いた。
Kanojo wa odoroite me o shibatatta.
She blinked her eyes in surprise.

⚖️ Commonly confused with 瞬く(またたく), which means the same but is more standard; 瞬く(しばたたく) carries a softer, more literary nuance.

💡 English Meaning

瞬い means “to twinkle (e.g. stars), to flicker, to waver; to blink (one's eyes), to wink, to bat; to blink (one's eyes) repeatedly” — full definition & examples →

⭐ Dictionary Form

瞬く (シバタタク) — main entry →

🔗 Other Forms of 瞬く
🃏 Flashcard — Test Yourself
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瞬い
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Reading & Info
シバタタイ
Lemma: 瞬く
動詞一般**
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⚡ 五段 (Godan/U-verb) Conjugations
ます形 (Polite)
瞬きます
て形 (Te-form)
瞬いて
過去形 (Past)
瞬いた
否定形 (Negative)
瞬かない
意向形 (Volitional)
瞬きましょう
可能形 (Potential)
瞬ける
受身形 (Passive)
瞬かれる
使役形 (Causative)
瞬かせる
💡
Did you know · 動詞
動詞 (verbs) come at the end of a Japanese sentence. They conjugate for tense, politeness, negation, and mood — this entry shows the base (dictionary) form.
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❓ About this entry
What is the difference between surface form and lemma? ▼
The surface form (瞬い) is the exact text as it appeared in the corpus — it may be conjugated or inflected. The lemma (瞬く) is the dictionary base form. For example, 食べた (surface) has the lemma 食べる.
What does the reading (pron) field mean? ▼
The reading shows the pronunciation in hiragana or katakana as recorded by UniDic. For kanji entries this is the standard reading of this specific surface form — which may differ from other readings of the same kanji.
What is UniDic? ▼
UniDic is a comprehensive Japanese lexicon developed by the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (NINJAL). It provides detailed morphological information for modern Japanese words, used in NLP tools like MeCab.
How do I use the conjugation table? ▼
The table shows the most common inflected forms of this verb. Click any "Copy" button to copy the form. Note: these are generated from the lemma 瞬く based on its conjugation type (五段-カ行).
How do I save this entry? ▼
Click the ★ save button in the word card above (you need to be logged in). Saved entries appear in your personal Saved Dictionary page for quick review later.