How do you say "chemistry" in Japanese?

In Japanese, "chemistry" is 化学 (kagaku). It is a noun.

Listen to the pronunciation:

Illustration of chemistry from Noun Town

Pronunciation

化学 is written in kanji. Romanised as kagaku, it sounds roughly like "kah-gah-koo" to an English ear.

Related words

Curated by Jack Ratcliffe

Practice 化学 and hundreds more Japanese words in the game.

Buy on Steam

Questions about 化学

How do you pronounce 化学?

化学 is romanised as kagaku. Say it roughly like "kah-gah-koo" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.

Is 化学 formal or casual?

化学 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 化学 written in Japanese?

化学 is written using kanji. Kanji characters carry the core meaning; any hiragana or katakana that follow show grammatical endings.

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.