How do you say "pencil" in Japanese?

In Japanese, "pencil" is 鉛筆 (enpitsu). It is a noun.

Listen to the pronunciation:

Illustration of pencil from Noun Town

Pronunciation

鉛筆 is written in kanji. Romanised as enpitsu, it sounds roughly like "eh-n-pee-tsoo" to an English ear.

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Questions about 鉛筆

How do you pronounce 鉛筆?

鉛筆 is romanised as enpitsu. Say it roughly like "eh-n-pee-tsoo" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.

Is 鉛筆 formal or casual?

鉛筆 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 鉛筆 written in Japanese?

鉛筆 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.