らしい
rashii
らしい holds hearsay and "so very spring" in one hand
The picture A smell drifting over from the other side. You didn't make it — that side gave it off. らしい is what the other side gave off by itself; そうだ is the words you heard, handed on untouched.
Where the picture shows up in らしい
-
news carried on the air
田中さん、今日は休みらしいですよ。
tanaka-san, kyō wa yasumi rashii desu yo
I hear Tanaka is off today.
Talk circulating around the office rides the air until it reaches your nose.
そうだ passes on the exact words you heard; らしい reports what drifted in, with some belief of your own attached.
-
news with a blurry source
駅前のパン屋、閉店したらしいです。
ekimae no pan-ya, heiten shita rashii desu
The bakery by the station apparently closed down.
Passing the bakery with its shutter down, only a faint smell hangs there — you can't tell where it came from.
-
what the situation gives off
どうも私のミスらしいです。
dōmo watashi no misu rashii desu
It seems the mistake was mine.
Going back through the paperwork, the smell of the mistake rises out of your own drawer.
In an apology, 私のミスらしい sounds like you're talking about someone else. Say 私のミスです.
-
what a name gives off
今日は春らしい天気ですね。
kyō wa haru rashii tenki desu ne
Really spring-like weather today.
Cherry blossom carried on the wind gives off the whole name 'spring' at once.
-
when the scent is missing
遅刻するなんて、彼らしくないですね。
chikoku suru nante, kare rashikunai desu ne
Turning up late — that's not like him.
The smell that always came off him is simply cut off today; nothing reaches your nose.
All of it in one picture
らしい comes down to one smell. Catch what drifted over from the other side of the office and it is hearsay; catch the faint trace outside the shuttered bakery and it is 'apparently'. When the smell rises out of your own drawer it becomes a reading of the situation, and when cherry blossom gives off the whole name 'spring' it becomes '-ness'. Cut that smell off and you get らしくない. Hearsay and '-ness' live in one word because neither is made by you — both are given off by the other side.