How do you say "cockroach" in Japanese?

ゴキブリ

gokiburi

Noun Katakana

In Japanese, "cockroach" is ゴキブリ (gokiburi).

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Pronunciation

Four quick beats, go-ki-bu-ri, said briskly and evenly with no long vowels to slow it down.

Writing and usage

ゴキブリ is written using katakana. It's a noun, and this word is also taught inside the Noun Town language learning game, where it appears in interactive lessons alongside hundreds of other everyday words.

Example sentence

ゴキブリが冷蔵庫の下に潜り込んだ。

gokiburi ga reizouko no shitani moguri kon da.

A cockroach scurried under the fridge.

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How to remember ゴキブリ

Gokiburi scurries away just as fast as the word itself scurries out of your mouth.

Related words

Browse all Japanese words in the glossary.

Questions about ゴキブリ

How do you pronounce ゴキブリ?

Four quick beats, go-ki-bu-ri, said briskly and evenly with no long vowels to slow it down.

Is ゴキブリ formal or casual?

ゴキブリ 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 ゴキブリ written in Japanese?

ゴキブリ is written using katakana. Romanised, it reads as gokiburi.

Where can I practice Japanese words for free?

You can play free Japanese minigames in your browser on the Noun Town online games page, with no sign-up needed. Every word in the Japanese glossary also has native audio and an example sentence you can revisit any time.

"Cockroach" in other languages

Curated by Jack Ratcliffe

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. Want to play the full game? Get Noun Town on Steam.

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