破顔

English translation: break into a smile

02:32 Nov 12, 2013
Japanese to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature
Japanese term or phrase: 破顔
Original Sentence: 男は破顔した.
Obtained from a fiction novel.
I can't find this word in many dictionaries and even then the context doesn't make much sense; the meanings I have found vary from "destroying face" to "broad" to "broad smile," so I'm a bit confused.
Apologia
English translation:break into a smile
Explanation:
http://ejje.weblio.jp/sentence/content/破顔

http://www.weblio.jp/content/破顔
Selected response from:

Takafumi Miyauchi
Taiwan
Local time: 16:09
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +4break into a smile
Takafumi Miyauchi
Summary of reference entries provided
FYI
cinefil

  

Answers


5 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
break into a smile


Explanation:
http://ejje.weblio.jp/sentence/content/破顔

http://www.weblio.jp/content/破顔

Takafumi Miyauchi
Taiwan
Local time: 16:09
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in JapaneseJapanese
PRO pts in category: 8
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Daniel Penso
3 hrs
  -> Thank you!

agree  MariyaN (X)
11 hrs
  -> Thank you!

agree  David Patrick
2 days 12 hrs
  -> Thank you!

agree  Yasutomo Kanazawa
6 days
  -> ありがとうございます。
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Reference comments


17 mins peer agreement (net): +1
Reference: FYI

Reference information:
は‐がん【破顔】
顔をほころばせて笑うこと。にこやかに笑うこと。
—‐いっしょう【破顔一笑】‥セウ
広辞苑 第四版

crack a smile
にこりとする
He finally cracked a smile.(彼はやっとにこりと笑った)のような使い方もするが、むしろ否定文でよく使われる。このほかに、She tells jokes without cracking a smile.(彼女はにこりともせずに冗談を飛ばす)という表現もある。日本語の「破顔一笑」や「相好を崩す」といった表現に近い。
E-DIC

http://jisho.org/words?jap=&page=2&eng=smile&dict=edict
まんざらでもなさそうに破顔する: be obviously quite taken with the remark and grin broadly 北杜夫著 キーン訳『楡家の人びと』 p. 84(The House of Nire)
白い歯を見せて破顔一笑する: grin from ear to ear フルガム著 池央耿訳『人生に必要な知恵はすべて幼稚園の砂場で学んだ』 p. 202(All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten)
破顔する: break into a broad smile 三島由紀夫著 ギャラガー訳『奔馬』 p. 90(Runaway Horses)
http://www.dictjuggler.net/yakugo/?word=破顔

cinefil
Japan
Native speaker of: Native in JapaneseJapanese
PRO pts in category: 23

Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
agree  RT Forbes: For some reason, I prefer "crack a smile" over "break into a smile"
3 days 23 hrs
  -> Thanks a lot!
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