How do you say "deep" in Japanese?

In Japanese, "deep" is 深い (fukai). It is a adjective pronounced "foo-kah-ee".

Listen to the pronunciation:

Pronunciation

深い is written in kanji and hiragana. Romanised as fukai, it sounds roughly like "foo-kah-ee" to an English ear.

Example sentence

この川はとても深いです。

Kono kawa wa totemo fukai desu.

This river is very deep.

Usage notes

Fukai (深い) is an i-adjective meaning deep. It is used for water, holes, and abstract depths such as deep feelings or a deep understanding of a subject.

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Questions about 深い

How do you pronounce 深い?

深い is romanised as fukai. Say it roughly like "foo-kah-ee" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.

Is 深い formal or casual?

深い is an i-adjective. The form shown is the plain form, which works in casual speech. To make it polite, add desu at the end of the sentence. The word itself does not change.

How is 深い written in Japanese?

深い is written using kanji and hiragana. 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.