滑ります（すべります、suberimaす）
- to slip

The Japanese word 滑ります (すべります) primarily means "to slip," "to slide," or "to skid." It refers to the action of losing one's footing and moving unintentionally along a surface, or the act of something moving smoothly across a surface. It can also be used figuratively to describe something that fails or doesn't go as planned, such as a joke "falling flat." 滑ります is the polite, present tense form of the verb.

⚫︎ 道で滑ってしまいました。 Translation: I slipped on the road. ⚫︎ スケートで氷の上を滑ります。 Translation: I skate on the ice. ⚫︎ 冗談が滑ってしまいました。 Translation: The joke fell flat. (The joke didn't go well)

⚫︎ Use 滑ります when describing the physical act of slipping or sliding. ⚫︎ Use it when talking about something moving smoothly. ⚫︎ You can also use it to express a failure, such as a failed attempt or a joke that didn't land well. It's generally a safe and widely applicable verb for situations involving slipping, sliding, or things going wrong. The "ます" form adds politeness to the sentence. You can use other forms depending on the tense and context (e.g., 滑りました - "slipped," 滑らない - "won't slip").

⚫︎ The word is typically written in hiragana as すべります. ⚫︎ The kanji form is 滑ります. The kanji 滑 (sube) means "to slip," "to slide," "to glide." ⚫︎ The okurigana (the hiragana following the kanji) is often ります, but will change based on the conjugation. For example, 滑り is the stem.

⚫︎ すべる (casual form of 滑ります) - to slip, to slide ⚫︎ スライドする (suraido suru) - to slide (borrowed from English) ⚫︎ 転ぶ (korobu) - to fall over, to tumble (can imply a loss of balance and a fall) ⚫︎ すり抜ける (surinukeru) - to slip through; to get through (figurative, like an opportunity slipping away)

⚫︎ 止まる (tomaru) - to stop ⚫︎ 踏む (fumu) - to step on, to tread on (the opposite of slipping)

雨で道が滑りやすくなっています。気をつけて歩きましょう。 ・Translation: The roads are slippery due to the rain. Let's be careful when walking. ・Explanation: This sentence uses 滑りやすくなっています (suri yasuku natteimasu) which is a form of 滑る combined with an adjective to express the condition of being slippery, making it clear to the listener.

プレゼンテーションで、言いたいことがうまく伝わらず、滑ってしまった。 ・Translation: During the presentation, I couldn't get my point across well, and it fell flat. ・Explanation: This sentence shows the figurative use of 滑ってしまった referring to the presentation failing to go as planned. It didn't "land" or achieve the desired result.

The etymology of 滑ります is relatively straightforward. The verb comes from the verb stem 滑 (sube), which has the inherent meaning of "slipping," "sliding," or "gliding." The suffix "-ri" is used to create a verb stem, and the polite verb ending "masu" is added to give us 滑ります, the polite present tense form.