Vocabulary and phrases
Practical guides on speaking, grammar, pronunciation, listening, and study planning, written for learners who want to use Japanese in real life.
Vocabulary and phrases · Page 10
Omae wa Mou Shindeiru Meaning: Grammar of お前はもう死んでいる
Omae wa mō shinde iru (お前はもう死んでいる) means "You are already dead": omae is a rough "you", mō is "already", and shinde iru describes the state of being dead, not the act of dying.
8 min readYare Yare Meaning: What やれやれ Says and Who Really Uses It
Yare yare (やれやれ) is a spoken sigh: it means "good grief" when something is tiresome and "phew" when a worry is finally over.
7 min readVTuber Japanese Vocabulary: Words You Need to Follow a Stream
To follow a Japanese VTuber stream you need about twenty words: haishin (配信) is the stream, shoken (初見) is a first-time viewer, kusa (草) is "lol", and kirinuki (切り抜き) is a clip cut from a longer stream.
8 min readOshikatsu Meaning: 推し活 and the Fan Vocabulary Around It
Oshikatsu (推し活) means "activities to support your oshi": oshi (推し) is the idol, character or person you cheer for, and katsu is short for katsudō, "activity".
8 min readPokémon Names in Japanese: What Pikachu and Friends Really Mean
Most Japanese Pokémon names are small word puzzles: Pikachū (ピカチュウ) joins pikapika, "sparkle", with chū, a mouse's squeak, and many of the first Pokémon are built the same way from everyday Japanese words.
8 min readSamurai Vocabulary in Japanese: 侍, 武士, 浪人 and Sword Idioms
Samurai is written 侍 and comes from an old verb meaning "to serve"; the more formal word for the warrior class is bushi (武士), and many samurai words, such as rōnin and shinken, are still used in modern Japanese with new meanings.
8 min readNinja Vocabulary in Japanese: Shinobi, Ninjutsu, Kunoichi and More
Ninja is written 忍者, and the same first kanji also gives the older word shinobi (忍び). That kanji, 忍, means both to endure and to move in secret, and it is still alive in everyday words such as nintai (忍耐), patience, and shinobiashi (忍び足), silent footsteps.
8 min readJapanese Brand Names and Their Meanings: Toyota, Subaru, Nintendo
Japanese brand names come from three places: kanji words you can read (Mitsubishi is three diamonds, Subaru is the Pleiades), family names in disguise (Toyota, Mazda, Honda), and invented words built to travel abroad (Sony, Canon, Uniqlo).
8 min readJapanese Manga Sound Effects: How to Read ドキドキ, シーン, ガーン
Manga sound effects are short words, usually in katakana, drawn into the art: dokidoki (ドキドキ) is a pounding heart, shīn (シーン) is silence, gān (ガーン) is shock. Many of them describe a feeling or a look, not a sound, and most are also used in everyday speech.
8 min readAnime Genres in Japanese: Shonen, Shojo, Seinen, Josei and Isekai
Shōnen (少年) means boy, shōjo (少女) girl, seinen (青年) young man and josei (女性) woman. In Japan these four words label the readers a manga magazine is aimed at, not the kind of story, while words such as isekai (異世界), another world, name the actual genre.
8 min readGacha Meaning: Japanese Mobile Game Terms from Kakin to Tenjō
Gacha (ガチャ) is a random prize draw in a game, named after gachagacha (ガチャガチャ), the capsule toy machines of Japan and the clattering sound their handles make. Around it has grown a full slang vocabulary: kakin (課金) for paying, tenjō (天井) for the pity ceiling, kamihiki (神引き) for a miracle pull.
8 min readDemon Slayer Japanese Vocabulary: Kimetsu no Yaiba Words Explained
Kimetsu no Yaiba (鬼滅の刃) reads as blade of demon destruction: ki (鬼) is demon, metsu (滅) is destroy and yaiba (刃) is blade. Most of the series' key terms are built the same way, from ordinary kanji such as hashira (柱), pillar, and kokyū (呼吸), breathing, that you can reuse in daily life.
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