訪れる

From Classical Japanese verb 訪(おとづ)る (otoduru). Analyzable as 音(おと) (oto, “sound”) + 連(つ)れる (tsureru, “to bring along; to accompany”); the tsureru changes to zureru as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

• (Tokyo) おとずれる (Nakadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

訪(おとず)れる • (otozureru) ^{←おとづれる (otodureru)?}transitive ichidan (stem 訪(おとず)れ (otozure), past 訪(おとず)れた (otozureta))

1. visit, call on, pay somewhere a visit
   • 1988, lyrics of "Tonari no Totoro", ending song of the animated film My Neighbor Totoro:

     トトロ、子供(こども)のときにだけ、あなたに訪(おとず)れる

     Totoro, kodomo no toki ni dake, anata ni otozureru

     Totoro only visits when you are in your childhood

2. for an occurrence to come, arrive
   • 2011, Barack Obama, 中東と北アフリカに関するバラク・オバマの演説, translation of "Remarks by the President on the Middle East and North Africa":

     もちろんこの大変革(だいへんかく)は、容易(ようい)に訪(おとず)れた訳(わけ)ではない。

     Mochiron kono daihenkaku wa, yōi ni otozureta wake de wa nai.

     Of course, change of this magnitude does not come easily.

• The subject can be either animate (e.g. a person) or inanimate (e.g. an occurrence or season).
• The object cannot be animate, or else it should be phrased as "someone's location" or "someone's time".
• The action can be either on purpose or arbitrary. Consequentially, the intention of the action is left ambiguous unless otherwise stated.

• 来訪(らいほう)する (raihō suru)
• 到来(とうらい)する (tōrai suru)

• 訪(たず)ねる (tazuneru): Also means "visit" but with different usage rules.