How do you say "hairdresser" in Japanese?

In Japanese, "hairdresser" is 美容師 (biyōshi). It is a noun pronounced "bee-yoh-shee".

Listen to the pronunciation:

Illustration of hairdresser from Noun Town

Pronunciation

美容師 is written in kanji. Romanised as biyōshi, it sounds roughly like "bee-yoh-shee" to an English ear.

Example sentence

彼女は美容師として働いています。

Kanojo wa biyōshi toshite hataraite imasu.

She works as a hairdresser.

Usage notes

Biyōshi (美容師) is the Japanese word for hairdresser. 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 美容師

How do you pronounce 美容師?

美容師 is romanised as biyōshi. Say it roughly like "bee-yoh-shee" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.

Is 美容師 formal or casual?

美容師 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 美容師 written in Japanese?

美容師 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.