How do you say "fast" in Japanese?

速い

hayai

Adjective Kanji

In Japanese, "fast" is 速い (hayai).

Listen to the pronunciation:

Free Japanese learning game. No sign-up, play in browser. See all games

Pronunciation

速い is written using kanji. Romanised as hayai, it sounds roughly like "hah-yah-ee" to an English ear.

Writing and usage

Hayai (速い) means fast or quick in terms of speed. The kanji 速 is less common than other speed-related characters but combines elements suggesting movement and swiftness.

Example sentence

この車はとても速いです。

Kono kuruma wa totemo hayai desu.

This car is very fast.

Test your Japanese knowledge in our free browser games.

How to remember 速い

The character includes a radical suggesting motion or progress. Visualize someone running at top speed to connect the word with its meaning.

Related words

Browse all Japanese words in the glossary.

See more Japanese adjectives.

Questions about 速い

How do you pronounce 速い?

速い is romanised as hayai. Say it roughly like "hah-yah-ee" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.

Is 速い formal or casual?

速い 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 速い written in Japanese?

速い is written using kanji. Hayai (速い) means fast or quick in terms of speed.

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.

"Fast" in other languages

Curated by Callan Ratcliffe

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.

Noun Town language-learning game on PC, Mac and VR

The full experience

Noun Town on PC, Mac & VR

These browser games are just a taste. The full Noun Town is a bigger, deeper 3D world: explore a living town, talk to its characters and learn thousands of words in immersive VR, Mixed Reality, or on your computer. It's an award-winning game with 590+ reviews on Steam and 12 languages to learn.

See the full game ▶

Spot an error? Email us at contact@noun.town