How do you say "button" in Japanese?

In Japanese, "button" is ボタン (botan). It is a noun pronounced "boh-tah-n".

Listen to the pronunciation:

Illustration of button from Noun Town

Pronunciation

ボタン is written in katakana. Romanised as botan, it sounds roughly like "boh-tah-n" to an English ear.

Example sentence

今日は新しいボタンを着ています。

Kyou wa atarashii Botan wo kite imasu.

I am wearing a new button today.

Usage notes

Botan (ボタン) means button in Japanese. Clothing vocabulary is useful for shopping, describing outfits, and understanding fashion-related conversations.

Related words

Curated by Jack Ratcliffe

Practice ボタン and hundreds more Japanese words in the game.

Buy on Steam

Questions about ボタン

How do you pronounce ボタン?

ボタン is romanised as botan. Say it roughly like "boh-tah-n" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.

Is ボタン formal or casual?

ボタン is a neutral, everyday word that works in both casual and polite speech. The level of formality comes from the sentence structure around it, not from the word itself.

How is ボタン written in Japanese?

ボタン is written using katakana. Katakana is typically used for words of foreign origin or to give emphasis.

This word is part of the vocabulary taught in the Japanese language learning game Noun Town, where words are introduced through play rather than memorisation.