How to say "stale" in Japanese

• パサパサCommon
  no-adjective, na-adjective, adverb (with と), suru verbCovers the literal, physical sense: bread that has gone stale and dried out. An onomatopoeic word evoking a dry, parched texture, it also describes dry hair, not figuratively stale ideas.
• 陳腐ちんぷCommon
  na-adjective, nounFor the figurative sense: stale, hackneyed or clichéd ideas, jokes and remarks — things worn out by overuse. It criticizes a lack of freshness rather than age.
• 古臭いふるくさいCommon
  i-adjectiveAlso figurative, with a stronger suggestion of age — it literally evokes an old smell. Use it for stale, old-fashioned, trite things, when the staleness carries a sense of being dated.
  私は彼かれの古ふるくさい冗談じょうだんにうんざりした。↗

  I was bored with his old jokes.
• ありふれたCommon
  prenominal modifierReally means common, commonplace, ordinary — the sort of thing seen everywhere. Its 'stale' sense is weak, a matter of overfamiliarity, and it does not apply to dried-out food.
  全まったくありふれた人間にんげんにすぎない。↗

  He is just an ordinary person.

Use 「パサパサ」 for the physical sense of bread gone dry and stale, 陳腐 and 「古臭い」 for figuratively stale ideas or jokes, and 「ありふれた」 for the weaker sense of overfamiliar and commonplace.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

• ぱさぱさdried-out
• 陳腐ちんぷstale
• 古臭いふるくさいstale
• ありふれたcommon
• ぼそぼそdry and tasteless
• カビ臭いかびくさいold-fashioned
• 手垢のついたてあかのついたworn-out (e.g. joke)
• 古いふるいstale