Nihonshock Japanese Vocab Bank

Here, you will have easy access to all past our spotlight vocabulary words. This is a new area of the website so please excuse it for being a little rough around the edges, I'll be upgrading it as necessary.

醍醐味

だいごみ [daigomi] – This word refers to the most interesting/pleasurable/thrilling thing in some category. The word 醍醐 comes from…

[Read More]
別腹

べつばら [betsubara] is your “separate stomach.” Specifically, it’s the (imaginary) one where you always seem to have room for dessert even after a big dinner.

[Read More]
 
殺風景

さっぷうけい [sappuukei] – A bland or uninspiring environment. 風景 [fuukei] is the word for a scene or view of somewhere.

[Read More]
夏バテ

なつばて [natsubate] – Something about the 38℃ days just makes you tired, you know. In Japanese, that fatigue is called 夏バテ.

[Read More]
 
手品

てじな [tejina] – ‘Hand’ (手) plus ‘wares’ (品) gives us the Japanese word for sleight-of-hand. The word 奇術 [kijutsu] is typically used for…

[Read More]
天啓

てんけい [tenkei] – A divine revelation.

Not simply messages from God (which are actually pretty uncommon, I hear)…

[Read More]
 
悪阻

つわり [tsuwari] – This ominous combination of kanji (evil 悪 and obstruction 阻) gives us the word for morning sickness (the early pregnancy symptom).

[Read More]
腹癒せ

はらいせ [haraise] – Literally, “soothing the stomach”. This expression refers to taking your anger out on something. In a strict definition…

[Read More]
 
御の字

おんのじ [on no ji] – This phrase describes something you’re so grateful for that it makes you want to use the honorific character 御. In other words…

[Read More]
土壇場

どたんば [dotanba] – Means, “at the last moment” or “in a very dire situation.” In the Edo period, criminals sentenced to decapitation were made to…

[Read More]
 
Page 1 of 4