How do you say "onion" in Japanese?

In Japanese, "onion" is 玉ねぎ (tamanegi). It is a noun.

Listen to the pronunciation:

Illustration of onion from Noun Town

Pronunciation

玉ねぎ is written in kanji and hiragana. Romanised as tamanegi, it sounds roughly like "tah-mah-neh-gee" to an English ear.

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Questions about 玉ねぎ

How do you pronounce 玉ねぎ?

玉ねぎ is romanised as tamanegi. Say it roughly like "tah-mah-neh-gee" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.

Is 玉ねぎ formal or casual?

玉ねぎ 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 玉ねぎ written in Japanese?

玉ねぎ 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.