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柄
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Used about flowers, plaid/stripes / zebra skin – wood. Very broad meaning. . . basically 柄 means. . .anything not plain! Can be used about textures as well as pictures or colors, like blue wallpaper with sailboats on it is 柄. Unlike 模様、 柄 also has the nuance of ‘personality or characteristic.’ For instance, the wonderful word お国, which means the national character of a country.
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模様
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A pattern which does not have pictures: fractals, mandala, plaid, zebra skin. Wood-grain are all 模様. Do NOT use 模様 about representational patterns like flower-print or kids’ pajamas with horsies on them. 模様 also has a more formal meaning: ‘the details of an incident’, for example: A train/airport announcement which says “We will explain the details of the delay” (遅れるの模様.)
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柄 and 模様. These two mean the same exact thing, but they are used in different situations. It’s really a case-by-case thing.
KANJIDAMAGE