SUPPO-RI すっぽり
Meanings
1. Describes something fitted into a hollow or opening coming completely out, often in one clean movement.
2. Describes something being completely enclosed, covered, or contained within something larger.
Examples
1. The doll’s head came clean off.
人形の首がすっぽり抜ける。
1. The bottom came right out of the Pringles can and all the chips fell out.
プリングルスの底がすっぽり抜けて、チップスが全部落ちた。
1. By mistake, Chapter Two was left out of the printed version entirely.
手違いで、第二章をすっぽり抜かして印刷してしまった。
2. Something must be bothering my son—he has completely buried himself under the covers and won’t come out.
嫌なことでもあったのか、息子がふとんをすっぽりかぶったまま出てこない。
2. The Japanese archipelago is completely covered by a high-pressure system, bringing clear weather nationwide.
日本列島は高気圧にすっぽりと覆われて、全国的に晴れです。
2. The new phone is just the right size to fit comfortably in the palm of my hand.
新しいスマホは、ちょうど手のひらにすっぽり収まるサイズだ。
Dogmatic Opinion
The common image behind both senses is something round or hollow.
I think of the lid of a cylindrical case used for a graduation certificate. A doll’s head can come out SUPPO-RI because there is a hollow socket left in the body after it comes free.
In sense 2, something slightly larger covers the target completely—or, viewed the other way around, the target fits entirely inside it.
Compared with PITTA-RI, the fit feels a little looser and more spacious. There is enough room for the smaller thing to be comfortably contained rather than matched with absolute tightness.
Related Words
For Japanese Learners
For sense 1, slip right out, come clean out, or come completely off may work. For sense 2, completely covered, enveloped, fit entirely inside, or nestle comfortably inside may fit. SUPPO-RI often involves the geometry of one whole thing coming out of—or fitting inside—another.
