How do you say "plants" in Japanese?

In Japanese, "plants" is 植物 (shokubutsu). It is a noun pronounced "shoh-koo-boo-tsoo".

Listen to the pronunciation:

Pronunciation

植物 is written in kanji. Romanised as shokubutsu, it sounds roughly like "shoh-koo-boo-tsoo" to an English ear.

Example sentence

新しい植物が設置されました。

Atarashii Shokubutsu ga secchi saremashita.

A new plants has been installed.

Usage notes

Shokubutsu (植物) means plants in Japanese. This noun describes a feature or object found in indoor or outdoor environments.

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Questions about 植物

How do you pronounce 植物?

植物 is romanised as shokubutsu. Say it roughly like "shoh-koo-boo-tsoo" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.

Is 植物 formal or casual?

植物 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 植物 written in Japanese?

植物 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.