-chan: for a kid's name, or the name of someone you're pretty close to; it's very familiar, and you'd never use it in reference to a superior. Actually, it's often tacked onto girls' names, if they're of equal or lower status than you. (You can use a first name with this) It's actually a babyfication of -san.
-kun: for reference to your equals or inferiors; you often refer to your classmates this way, though it applies to guys more often than girls.
-san: respect. Mr., etc. Applies to equals and superiors.
-senpai: referring to someone slightly higher up than you in whatever organization you're in. Could be an upperclassman in school, or an older member of a club you belong to, even an elder member of the office you work at.
-sensei: used for teachers and doctors. Mr. / Dr.
-sama: extreme respect. Use it to refer to superiors, customers, etc... There's a pretty wide range, though. You can call a customer, your king, or even the guy/girl you're in love with "sama"... It all depends exactly how much of a pedestal you want put them on, and how low you want put yourself.
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | M | N | O | R | S | T | U | W | Y | Z |
abunai! / abune! : Look out! (literally: dangerous)
aki: autumn / fall
aki yasumi: autumn vacation / fall break
ai shiteru: (ai shiteiru) I love you. (the stronger form)
ame: rain
amerikajin: an American
Ane: short for older sister. (informal, so you only refer to your own sister this way)
ani / aniki: short for older brother. (informal, so you only refer to your own brother this way)
anou...: Um... / Uh...
anou na / anou ne: now see here... / well now... / listen up...
ara: oh my
are?: Huh? What?
arigatai: I'm grateful (alternate for arigatou, but kinda quirky)
arigatou (gozaimasu / gozaimashita): thank you
arubaito: part-time job
asa: morning
asagohan: breakfast
ashita: tomorrow.
atsui: hot
attakai / atatakai: warm, pleasant
baachan: granny.
baka: Idiot, fool, stupid, nonsense
baka yarou: idiot / jerk / asshole
baito: job (see arubaito)
ban: evening
bangohan: dinner
betsu ni: nothing much... / nothing in particular... / not especially...
biseinen: beutiful young man
bishoujo: beautiful girl
bishounen: beautiful boy (don't we all know this one?)
che: a muttered curse, not positive what exactly it means
chibi: little / dwarf
chigau: different / wrong (chigau yo!: that's not true! / that's not how it is!)
chikushou!: SHIT! / GODDAMNIT!!!!
chotto: (technically means "a bit / a little", but it's often used as a short form of chotto matte. Could come out as "Hey--!")
chotto matte: wait a minute
daijoubu: safe, secure etc. As a question (Daijoubu?, Daijoubu ka? or Daijoubu desu ka?) it means "are/is you/he/she/it all right?" As a statement, "I/he/she/it am/is all right."
dai suki (da): BIG suki (see suki below) ^_-
dakara: so...
dakedo: but...
dame (da / desu): no good / wrong
dare da?: who is it? / who's there?
dare ka!: someone, anyone! (help!)
de doushite? so... why? (In that case/ well then, why?)
dekiru: is capable of / can do (so the opposite is dekinai)
demo: but (demo yo / demo sa: but...! / but...)
doko: where
doko e iku no?: where are you going?
dore: which one?
dou omou?: what do you think?
doumo: very much. Sometimes short for "doumo arigatou gozaimasu" => thank you very much; in other words "thanks!"
doushita: (doushita no? / doushita n da? / doushita n dai?) what's wrong? What happened?
doushite: why?
doushite ore ni?: Why (are you doing this) to me?
douzo: go right ahead, be my guest
douzo yoroshiku: please treat me favourably (something you say when you first meet someone)
ecchi: this is just the Japanese pronunciation of the letter 'H', standing for hentai, so they mean about the same. Ecchi almost seems to be a more affectionate term...
ee: yes (slightly less formal than "hai")
eeee~eee: Huhhhhh?!
etou / e~tou: Ummm... / uhhh...
fuyu: winter
fuyu yasumi: winter vacation
gaki: brat
gaijin: foreigner
gambatte: Hang in there / keep going / persevere. (Also: Gambarimasu or Gambaru: I'll hang in there, etc.)
genkan: the entryway of a Japanese house (where you take off your shoes and change to house slippers)
genki: healthy, energetic
(o)genki desu ka: how are you (lit. are you well?)
gi: clothes--usually the outfit/uniform for some discipline, such as a martial art.
gomen (nasai): sorry / I'm sorry.
hai: yes
hajimemashite: pleased to meet you for the first time. (what you often say when introducing yourself)
hanasanaide: don't let go
hanasé(e)!: let go!
haru: spring
haru yasumi: spring vacation
hayai: Fast.
hayaku(!): hurry up(!)
héé: expression of surprise/disbelief
hen: strange. ("hen na hito" => a strange person)
hentai: pervert (a little stronger than sukebe, I believe)
hidoi: mean, cruel.
himitsu: secret.
Hiragana: the primary Japanese alphabet
hiru: noon
hirugohan: lunch
hisashiburi (da) (da ne) (da naa)!: long time no see!
hito: person
hitori (de): alone
hontou ka yo: oh yeah?/I wonder if that's really true/etc
hontou ni: really, truthfully
ho~ / hou~: reeeeeallly, you don't saaaaaay... (sort of incredulous and cocky tone of voice, mosta the time ^_~)
ikanaide: don't go
ikimashou: let's go (more formal)
ikou: let's go
iku zo! / iku wa yo: let's go! (masculine / feminine)
(i)ie: no.
ii na / ii ne!: This is great! / isn't this nice!
iinazuke: fiancée
ii yo: It's all right (!).
Imouto: Younger sister. (-chan or -san can be added)
inu: dog
irasshaimasse!: welcome! (said when welcoming customers, usually)
itadakimasu: (lit. I humbly accept) Let's eat!
itooshi: darling (I've also seen the spelling itoshii)
ittai/itte: ow!
itte irasshai: the reply to itte kimasu. (lit. Go and come)
itte kimasu: what you say before going to school/ work / do an errand, etc. (lit. I'll go and come back.)
iya: 1. casual form of "iie", meaning "no". 2. distasteful, unpleasant, etc. "Iya da"--that's horrible! (etc), or even "NO!!!" 3. iyaaaa...: sort of a hesitation noise, akin to "naaahhhh..." or "weeeeellll...."
jaa na / ja ne!: basically short for "jaa, mata ne!" , meaning, "Well, later!" Sometimes you just say "ja!" or "mata ne!" instead. ^_^
jan-ken-pon: Rock, scissors, paper. (janken's short for that)
jibun: oneself (jibun de: by oneself, one one's own power, etc.)
jishin: earthquake
juubun (da): is enough / is sufficient
(O)kaasan: Mother. O- for added respect. -san can be replaced with -sama or -chan.
Kami: a god. Kami-sama: God. but also...
kami: paper. Or, hair. (of course, they all have different Kanji...)
Kanji: (you knew this already, right?) borrowed Chinese characters used in Japanese.
Katakana: the secondary Japanese alphabet, used for writing words borrowed from another language, or for putting emphasis on a word, like bolding a word in English
katana: A japanese sword, long, thin, relatively light, with a pretty plain handle.
kawaii: cute.
kaze: wind
ke: see che, above.
ki: life-energy.
kimochi: feelings
kimochi warui (kimochi wariiii!): disgusting / makes me sick
kirei: pretty
kisama: Like "teme," this also means "you," but it's extremely rude, and translates to something like "you bastard," etc...
kitsune: fox.
kodomo: child
kodomo-mitai: childish / like a child
koi!: come (here)! (the imperative form)
koi: love
koibito: lover / boyfriend / girlfriend.
konaide: don't come / stay away
konbanwa: good evening
konnichiwa: hello! (good afternoon)
kono: this (something)
kono chibi...: why you little...
kore: this one
korosu: (I) will kill (you) ("Omae o korosu" => "I'm going to kill you")
kudasai: please
kure: informal, semi-rude form of kudasai
kuso: shit
kuso gaki: rotten little brat
kuso jiji: old coot / rotten old man / old fart / etc.
(O)kyakusan (/sama): customer (respectful)
maa, maa...: calm down... (trying to downplay something)
mada: still
mada mada: not yet
maebure: advanced announcement / heralding in advance (according to my dictionary, anyhow)
Makai: The demon world.
Meikai: The Netherworld.
masaka: it can't be, no, no way, impossible, etc.
mata ne / mata na: Later!
mattaku: completely, really. By itself, as an exclamation, it's kind of like "Really!" Something you say in a huff, or when you're annoyed.
matte (yo): wait(!)
mazui: this is no good / this is bad / we're in trouble / etc. (It can also mean "tastes bad", the opposite of "oishii", depending on context)
mina / minna: everyone (add a -san, or -sama for respect)
minna doko?: (Mada Mada) where is everyone?
miro!: look! (imperative form)
miru: (to) look
miru na: don't look!
mite: look (as in, asking someone to look)
mochiron: of course
mou: more or already . By itself, or as an exclamation at the beginning of a sentence, it's almost like a verbal pout.
mou ichi-do: one more time
mou ii: enough already! / enough
na(a): a casual equivalent of "ne"
nakama: comrade, friend
(o)name wa?: what's your name?
naginata: a long wooden pole with a medium-length blade mounted on top of it; a bit like a spear. Used to be used by samurai, came to be used more by women since the light weight and length made use of centrifugal force.
nakanaide: don't cry
naite iru: (someone is) crying
(O)neesan: Older sister. O- for added respect. -san can be replaced with -sama or -chan. The 'ee' is pronounced as if saying the letter 'A'.
nan da?: what is it? / what is this?
nan da to?: what did you say?!
nan desu tte?: (same as above, more formal)
nan deshou / nan darou: what do you suppose that is? / I wonder what that is? / And what might that be?
nan de mo nai: it's nothing
nani?: what?
nani mo nai: nothing
naruhodo: I see
natsu: summer
natsu yasumi: summer vacation
naze?: why?
naze tomatte kurenai ka?: why won't it stop?
ne: at the end of a sentence, 'right?' or 'isn't that so?' At the beginning of a sentence, 'hey', or 'say' , either to get someone's attention or preface a thought.
neko: cat.
Nekojin: (from neko, meaning "cat", and -jin, a suffix meaning "people/person")
Nihongo: Japanese language
Nihonjin: a Japanese person
(O)niisan: Older brother. O- for added respect. -san can be replaced with -sama or -chan.
Ningenkai: The Human world.
Ningen: Human.
ninmu kanryou: Mission accomplished.
ninmu ryoukai: Mission accepted/acknowledged.
Note: If you're looking for an "o" word and don't find it here, try looking for the word without the "o", because that is sometimes an honourific or polite prefix.
ohayou (gozaimasu): good morning
okaeri (nasai): welcome home / welcome back . The response to tadaima.
oishii: delicious / tasty
Omedetou (gozaimasu)!: congratulations!
onegai (-shimasu): please
onegai da: it's a favour (I'm asking of you)
Oni: Devil/Ogre.
osoi: late / slow
ossu!: yo, wassup!
otaku: someone insanely obsessed with something (to the point of not leaving your house is where the term comes from, since "otaku" is a polite word for "house"). Anime fans tend to refer ourselves as that, but you can actually be an otaku of anything, a sports otaku, a martial arts or weapons otaku, etc... ^_^
Otouto: Younger brother (-chan or -san can be added)
oyasumi: good night
owari: the end
owatta: finished
-ra: the rougher form of "-tachi", a plural marker. "Kisama ra!" => "You bastards!"
Reikai: The Spirit World. This is where spirits are processed and sent to Heaven or Hell.
reiki / rei ki: spiritual energy (life energy) possessed by humans and inhabitants of the Reikai, used for fireballs, etc.
Rei Kan: ESP, sixth sense, psychic ability.
Rei Ken: (not to be confused with the above) A sword made completely of reiki, much sharper than a normal sword.
'rusee, na: Shaddap. (short and slurred together form of urusai na)
ryoukai: roger.
saa...: Well... / Let's see... / come on
saa!: I dunno!
saigo: the last / the end
samui: cold
sei: fault. ("Ore no sei da" = "It's my fault")
-shihan: Master
shikata ga nai: more formal version of shou ga nai, same changes can be applied, too.
shimatta: Literally--"I ended up doing it". It has the connotation, "I messed up, I made a mistake, etc..." and is often translated as just "Shit!" or "Damn!"
shiné!: die!
shinitai no ka?: you wanna die?
shinjiraren: short for shinjirarenai.
shinjirarenai: I can't believe it.
shou ga nai: nothing to be done / can't be helped shou ga nai (darou? / deshou? / ne? / na?): nothing to be done, right? / I guess it can't be helped / etc. (the nai here can be replaced with nee or arimasen)
shuriken: throwing stars
soba: noodles
sonna!: (as an exclamation, by itself) But! / That's...! (It's basically a protest, or an exclamation at how mean/unfair/bad/etc. something is. You could translate it a lotta different ways.)
sore: that
sou da na: (= sou desu ne) That's true, isn't it? (Yeah, I agree) sou datta na: past tense; "that's how it was, huh?"
sou deshou/sou darou: that's how it is, isn't it? Isn't that right?
sou ja nai: it's not so (you can apply na, ka and darou/deshou just the same as with the positive form)
sou (desu) ka: really? / is that so? sou kai: just a more informal version of sou ka
sukebe: pervert (not quite as strong as hentai)
suzushii: cool (temperature-wise), pleasant
sugoi: amazing, wonderful, uncanny, weird.
suki da: I love you. (the slightly less intense form--maybe more like "I like you" than "I love you"... also, I'm guessing it's more appropriate for family members to use about each other.)
sumanai: informal for sumimasen
sumimasen: excuse me / I'm sorry
-tachi: a suffix that makes something plural. Watashi-tachi is "we", for exampe, anata-tachi is a plural "you" (like "vous" in French).
tadaima: I'm home / I'm back (and the response is okaeri.)
taihen (da): it's awful, it's serious, it's hard, it's terrible...
'taku: short for mattaku, see above.
tami: sake ("dare no tame ni" = "for whose sake")
tanomu: I'm begging you
tanoshii: is fun
tanoshimi: it will be fun / I'm looking forward to it
tasukete!: help!
teme(e): Extremely strong "YOU!", which, because it's extremely rude in Japan, often translates to "bastard" or the like...
tenshi: angel
-(t)te ba: puts extra emphasis on whatever comes before it. So if "wakatta" => "I understood", then "wakatta tte ba!" is "I underSTOOD, I'm telling you!" "Tanji tte ba..." => "TANJI..." (in other words, he wasn't listening the first time, let's try and get his attention now)
(O)tousan: Father. O- for added respect. -san can be replaced with -sama or -chan.
un: yeah
ureshii: happy / I'm so happy!
urusai: noisy, annoying. urusai, na!: shut up!
uso: a lie. uso da: it's a lie/it's not true!. uso darou?!: you're kidding, right?! / this can't be true!
usotsuki: liar
utsukushii: beautiful
wakaranai / wakannai / wakannee: I don't know / I'd'nno (the less syllables, the more slang, just like English)
wakarimashita: formal of wakatta
wakatta (yo): I understand / understood (!)
wakizashi: a short katana, usually held in the left hand while fighting with a katana in the right.
warui: bad / evil
ya: another informal greeting, like yo
yabai: quite similar to mazui
yabee: informal for yabai
yahari: As I thought / after all / as expected
yamero (yo)!: stop!
yamete (yo)!: stop! (Note: if something bad was happening to a guy, they'd say yamero, which is a lot rougher and more direct, not yamete. Yamete is gentler, more polite, and a lot more characteristic of female speech
yappari: Exactly the same as above.
yare-yare: well, well... / so that's how it is...
yarou: jerk
'yasumi: short for oyasumi, see above
yasumi: vacation
yasumu: take a rest
yatteranee ze!: I can't take it anymore! (very informal)
yo: tack it onto the end of just about anything, it works like an exclamation point (!). It can also be an informal greeting just like in English, "Yo, wassup" style
yoroshiku (na): (short and informal for "yoroshiku onegai-shimasu" or "douzo yoroshiku") Nice to meet you. (lit. please treat me well.)
yoshi / yosh: OK! / all right!
youkai: demon
yokatta: literally, "it was good", but also "thank goodness," "thank god," etc...
youki: demonic energy (life energy) possessed by (duh) demons, the inhabitants of the Makai.
Youko: A fox-demon, humanoid but with fox-ears and tail.
yumemiru: dream of
yurushite: forgive (me)
zannen (da): it's a shame / it's too bad
zen-zen: not at all
zettai ni: absolutely, surely
zutto: always / to a great extent