How do you say "new" in Japanese?

In Japanese, "new" is 新しい (Atarashii). It is a adjective.

Listen to the pronunciation:

Pronunciation

新しい is written in kanji and hiragana. Romanised as Atarashii, it sounds roughly like "ah-tah-rah-shee-ee" to an English ear.

Related words

Curated by Jack Ratcliffe

Practice 新しい and hundreds more Japanese words in the game.

Buy on Steam

Questions about 新しい

How do you pronounce 新しい?

新しい is romanised as Atarashii. Say it roughly like "ah-tah-rah-shee-ee" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.

Is 新しい formal or casual?

新しい is an i-adjective. The form shown is the plain form, which works in casual speech. To make it polite, add desu at the end of the sentence. The word itself does not change.

How is 新しい written in Japanese?

新しい is written using kanji and hiragana. 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.