膨れる

From Old Japanese 膨る (pukuru), following 下二段活用 (shimo nidan katsuyō, “lower bigrade conjugation”), from Proto-Japonic *pukoru.

Compare 膨らむ (fukuramu, “to swell, to get bigger”), 膨らます (fukuramasu, “to make swell, to fill up”), and 袋 (fukuro, “bag”), from the way a bag is filled with items.

First cited to the Man’yōshū, completed sometime after 759 CE.^[1]

• (Tokyo) ふくれる (Heiban – )^[2]
• IPA^(key):

膨(ふく)れる • (fukureru) intransitive ichidan (stem 膨(ふく)れ (fukure), past 膨(ふく)れた (fukureta))

1. to swell, to expand

膨れる (fukureru) is used to describe something that happens due to an abnormality or external force, not necessarily with a positive sense.

• パンが膨(ふく)れる、躯(むくろ)が膨(ふく)れる、頬(ほお)が膨(ふく)れる

  pan ga fukureru, mukuro ga fukureru, hō ga fukureru

  the bread rises, the corpse bloats, one's cheeks puff up (→ one pouts or sulks)

Its synonym, the intransitive verb 膨らむ (fukuramu) is used to describe something that happens naturally of its own accord, generally with a positive sense.

• 蕾(つぼみ)が膨(ふく)らむ、夢(ゆめ)が膨(ふく)らむ、胸(むね)が〔幸(しあわ)せなどで〕膨(ふく)らむ

  tsubomi ga fukuramu, yume ga fukuramu, mune ga 〔shiawase nado de〕 fukuramu

  the buds swell, one's dreams grow bigger, one's chest swells