Japanese “maru-maru”: A Well-Rounded Explanation 〇〇

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What does maru-maru mean in Japanese? Basically, it can be two things, and we’re going to cover the whole, entire, complete thing in this article (that’s a bad joke you’ll understand in a moment).

Let’s keep it sweet and simple to start.

 

What is the meaning of maru-maru in Japanese?

In Japanese, maru-maru means one of three things. One form is 〇〇, which acts like a blank space in English, basically a placeholder. The other form is 丸々, which either means “round, plump, chubby,” or “wholly, completely, entirely.”

 

The Big O’s

Let’s start with something on the simple side of things. That is to say nothing at all. That’s right, one of the easiest kanji in all of the Japanese language is 〇.

This character is as direct and simple as it looks, and yet it also has many different jobs in the language. It can be used to mark an answer as correct (same as a check-mark, like we use in the US).

It can be used to refer to a circle (no surprise there). It can be used as a zero (in this case it’s either pronounced zero or rei). And, at last, it can be used as a placeholder.

When used as a placeholder, it often comes in a pair as 〇〇, pronounced maru-maru. This maru-maru placeholder functions in virtually the same way as a blank space would in English.

It has an alternate pronunciation as well (although it seems to be an “unofficial” one, as far as my sources reveal). When reading 〇〇 as a blank, you can also say nani-nani.

Also, in that placeholder way, it can equally function to censor words (just like we use !*#@$% in English). In this case you would have to use your judgment to choose how to pronounce the word, but you wouldn’t read out the 〇’s as maru’s.

One creative use of the 〇〇 that I found was in a manga titled ひとりぼちの〇〇生活 (hitori-bochi no maru-maru seikatsu. This means, roughly, “The _____ Life of the Lonely.” That would be a hard title to read aloud in English. Easy peasy in Japanese!

 

Origin of the 〇

I couldn’t find a clear origin for this character online. It was in use in China at least as early as the 12th century, and likely was not natively develop (like most Chinese characters were).

The most likely origin is that it came out of either South Asia or the Middle East, coming from its use as a placeholder in the decimal sense of zero.

 

Rounding out the meaning of maru-maru

Another, quite common, way to write maru is 丸. This character dates all the way back to the oldest days of Chinese script, originally simply indicating something that could be turned or flipped.

In essence, something that could be rolled—something round.

Over time this solidified into the common sense we use today, which is of something that is round in a chubby, plump, or filled way.

There are, basically, two ways to write this. One is 丸々, which can be used as its own noun, or as a verb, if you attach suru (or one of the suru conjugated forms) to the end.

Another way is to make it its own verb by taking the second half and stripping away the kanji and imbuing the final syllable with verbial powers!

Okay, let me illustrate. 丸まる looks almost the same as what you see above, and it is, in fact, pronounced the same, but it functions ever so slightly differently.

This one, in part because the second half is written in kana instead of kanji, is a regular verb.

It can be conjugated all on its own, without needing to add anything else. It means, on its own, “to become rounded,” or, “to roll into a ball.”

In order to understand the way this form of maru-maru is used, let’s take a look at a couple of example sentences.

The need for this will become especially apparent when we get to the next (which is also the last) section.

 

Completing the meaning of maru-maru

The final meaning of maru-maru is 丸々 (I know, familiar, right?). You’ll have to use context to distinguish this meaning from the preceding one.

It’s simple (and distinct) enough though. In this case 丸々 just means “wholly, completely.”

Let’s look at a couple of example sentences to help clear up the difference/