What does 撫でる mean in Japanese, and how is it used with body parts?

撫でる means to gently stroke or pet something with a flat, open hand — a cat’s fur, a child’s head, a dog’s back. It names a slow, flat-palm motion, different from たたく (“to pat/tap”) or かく (“to scratch”). Japanese pairs it with the body part being touched, so 頭を撫でる (“pet the head”) simply swaps in お腹 or 背中 to move the same motion to the belly or back.

The clip runs this pattern through its paces on a talking Pikachu plush: 頭を撫でます (pet the head), お腹を撫でます (pet the belly), 背中を撫でます (pet the back) — three sentences, one verb, three body-part nouns swapped in and out. It’s a clean beginner drill for how Japanese reuses a single verb across many nouns instead of needing a different word for each gesture.