kawaku

Kawaku is the romanized form of the Japanese verb 渇く, meaning to be thirsty or to become dry. It is an intransitive verb used to describe the sensation of thirst in humans and animals, or the feeling of dryness in the mouth or throat. The most common constructions are with body parts, such as 喉が渇く (one’s throat becomes dry/thirsty) and 口が渇く (one’s mouth becomes dry).

In usage, thirst is typically alleviated by drinking water, as in 水を飲むと喉の渇きが収まる (drinking water stops the thirst in the throat). The term can also be extended metaphorically to express a strong need or longing, though such figurative uses are less literal and appear more in literary contexts. It is important to note that for drying of inanimate objects, Japanese generally uses other verbs such as 乾く (to dry) rather than 渇く.

Kawaku is a native Japanese term and appears in everyday language, literature, and media in its kanji form 渇く or in kana. Outside of language-learning or linguistic discussion, there is no widely recognized non-language meaning of Kawaku in major reference works.

See also: 渇く, 喉が渇く, 口が渇く, 乾く.