How to say "sounding" in Japanese
Choosing the right word
- 探りさぐりnounCovers 'sounding' in the sense of probing or a probe, including a stylet; it is the common word for feeling something out or probing into a matter, not for measuring water depth.
- nounThe loanword, a direct borrowing of the English term; less common, it turns up chiefly in technical fields where the English word itself is used, and is rarely the everyday choice.
- 探測たんそくnoun, suru verb, transitive verbCovers both 'probing' and 'sounding' in the sense of investigating something by probing or taking measurements; it is a less common alternative to 探り for this investigative meaning.
- 深浅測量しんせんそくりょうnounCovers 'sounding' only in the sense of measuring water depth, i.e. bathymetry; for probing or investigating in any other sense, this is not the word you want.
Use 「探り」 for probing or a probe in general contexts, 「サウンディング」 as the loanword in technical fields, 探測 for probing or sounding as investigation, and 深浅測量 only for measuring water depth.
Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only
Japanese equivalents
See also
