How do you say "dinner" in Japanese?

In Japanese, "dinner" is 夕食 (yūshoku). It is a noun pronounced "yoo-shoh-koo".

Listen to the pronunciation:

Illustration of dinner from Noun Town

Pronunciation

夕食 is written in kanji. Romanised as yūshoku, it sounds roughly like "yoo-shoh-koo" to an English ear.

Example sentence

夕食を一つください。

Yūshoku wo hitotsu kudasai.

One dinner, please.

Usage notes

Yūshoku (夕食) is the Japanese word for dinner. Food vocabulary is among the most practical for daily life in Japan and is used constantly in markets, restaurants, and home cooking.

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Questions about 夕食

How do you pronounce 夕食?

夕食 is romanised as yūshoku. Say it roughly like "yoo-shoh-koo" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.

Is 夕食 formal or casual?

夕食 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 夕食 written in Japanese?

夕食 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.