How do you say "diary" in Japanese?

日記

nikki

Noun Kanji

In Japanese, "diary" is 日記 (nikki).

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Pronunciation

日記 is written using kanji. Romanised as nikki, it sounds roughly like "neek-kee" to an English ear.

Writing and usage

Nikki combines kanji for day (日) and record/note (記). The compound structure directly shows it is a daily written record.

Example sentence

新しい日記を買いました。

Atarashii Nikki wo kaimashita.

I bought a new diary.

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How to remember 日記

Day (nichi) + record (ki) = diary. Writing each day about what happened. Personal thoughts recorded daily.

Related words

Browse all Japanese words in the glossary.

See more house words.

Questions about 日記

How do you pronounce 日記?

日記 is romanised as nikki. Say it roughly like "neek-kee" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.

Is 日記 formal or casual?

日記 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 日記 written in Japanese?

日記 is written using kanji. Nikki combines kanji for day (日) and record/note (記).

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.

"Diary" in other languages

Curated by Callan Ratcliffe

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