How do you say "doctor" in Japanese?

In Japanese, "doctor" is 医者 (isha). It is a noun pronounced "ee-shah".

Listen to the pronunciation:

Illustration of doctor from Noun Town

Pronunciation

医者 is written in kanji. Romanised as isha, it sounds roughly like "ee-shah" to an English ear.

Example sentence

病院の医者はいつも忙しそうです。

Byouin no isha wa itsumo isogashisou desu.

The doctor at the hospital always looks busy.

Usage notes

Isha (医者) is the Japanese word for doctor. Job titles in Japanese use a variety of endings: shi (士) for licensed professionals, sha (者) for workers, while modern roles often use katakana loanwords.

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Questions about 医者

How do you pronounce 医者?

医者 is romanised as isha. Say it roughly like "ee-shah" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.

Is 医者 formal or casual?

医者 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 医者 written in Japanese?

医者 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.