How do you say "dish towel" in Japanese?

In Japanese, "dish towel" is ふきん (fukin). It is a noun pronounced "foo-kee-n".

Listen to the pronunciation:

Illustration of dish towel from Noun Town

Pronunciation

ふきん is written in hiragana. Romanised as fukin, it sounds roughly like "foo-kee-n" to an English ear.

Example sentence

そのふきんはとても便利です。

Sono Fukin wa totemo benri desu.

That dish towel is very useful.

Usage notes

Fukin (ふきん) is the Japanese word for dish towel. This noun appears in everyday contexts across homes, offices, schools, and public spaces.

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Questions about ふきん

How do you pronounce ふきん?

ふきん is romanised as fukin. Say it roughly like "foo-kee-n" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.

Is ふきん formal or casual?

ふきん 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 ふきん written in Japanese?

ふきん is written using hiragana. Hiragana is the basic Japanese syllabary used for native words and grammatical elements.

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.