音読み: シュン
訓読み: またたく
画数: 18
部首: めへん（目）
Meaning
Blink / Instant / Moment
- Basic forms
- 瞬く — blink; twinkle / base form
- 瞬きます — blinks; twinkles / masu form
- 瞬いた — blinked; twinkled / ta form
- 瞬いて — blinking … / te form
- 瞬かない — do not blink / negative
- 瞬けば — if (one) blinks / conditional
- 瞬け — blink! / imperative
- Common expressions
- 目を瞬く — blink one’s eyes
- 星が瞬く — stars twinkle
- 瞬く間 — in the blink of an eye
- More
- 瞬いている — is blinking; is twinkling / state
瞬く（またたく） is a godan intransitive verb. It refers to brief, rapid movements such as blinking, and is also used poetically for light that flickers or twinkles.
- 瞬間 — instant / moment
- 瞬時 — in a flash / instantly
- 一瞬 — one moment / one blink
- 瞬発力 — instantaneous power; reflex
- 瞬く — to twinkle / to blink
- 瞬き — blinking (of eyes)
瞬 combines the radical 目 (eye) with the phonetic part 舜 (シュン). It evokes the rapid motion of the eye — blinking, twinkling, or passing quickly.
It is used literally for eye motion and figuratively for brief spans of time.