ばらばら

Etymology
Ultimate derivation unclear. Appears from the late 1500s.

Probably originally an, imitative of the sound of rain or other small things falling in a scattered manner.

Related to root verb, from which derives as the regular mediopassive / intransitive, and  derives as the regular causative / transitive. Compare similar verb paradigms with root verb, causative / transitive , mediopassive / intransitive , 🇨🇬 and modern causative / transitive , mediopassive / intransitive , 🇨🇬 and modern and.

The term actually appears earliest in texts, starting from the late 1500s, followed by  in the late 1600s and  in the early 1700s. This suggests the possibility that the adjective / adverb came first, with the verbs then deriving from that.

Possibly related to adjective.

Adjective

 * 1)  scattered into separate parts, in disarray, messy, messed up

Adverb

 * 1)  continuously
 * 2) all over, messily, in a messed up manner

Usage notes

 * Can be used with adverbial particle, or bare without a particle.
 * May also be spelled optionally in katakana to avoid ambiguity in parsing the start and end of the word in running text.
 * May also be spelled optionally in katakana to avoid ambiguity in parsing the start and end of the word in running text.
 * May also be spelled optionally in katakana to avoid ambiguity in parsing the start and end of the word in running text.