Home › Japanese › Glossary › pollution
Japanese vocabulary · Beginner
How do you say "pollution" in Japanese?
汚染
osen
In Japanese, "pollution" is 汚染 (osen).
Listen to the pronunciation:
Free Japanese learning game. No sign-up, play in browser. See all games
Pronunciation
Osen is short and simple, o-sen, with a clean, short o at the start and a soft n closing the word.
Writing and usage
汚染 is written using kanji. It's a noun, and this word is also taught inside the Noun Town language learning game, where it appears in interactive lessons alongside hundreds of other everyday words.
Example sentence
車は都市の汚染に拍車をかけています。
kuruma ha toshi no osen ni hakusha wokaketeimasu.
Cars add to the city's pollution.
Test your Japanese knowledge in our free browser games.
How to remember 汚染
Osen sounds close to 'oh, sin' — pollution really is a small sin against the clean air we all breathe.
Related words
- ecosystem 生態系 seitaikei
- habitat 生息地 seisokuchi
- wildlife 野生動物 yasei doubutsu
- environment 環境 kankyou
- recycling リサイクル risaikuru
- conservation 保全 hozen
- wildfire 山火事 yamabi koto
- landslide 地滑り jisuberi
- petal 花びら hanabira
Browse all Japanese words in the glossary.
Questions about 汚染
How do you pronounce 汚染?
Osen is short and simple, o-sen, with a clean, short o at the start and a soft n closing the word.
Is 汚染 formal or casual?
汚染 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 汚染 written in Japanese?
汚染 is written using kanji. Romanised, it reads as osen.
Where can I practice Japanese words for free?
You can play free Japanese minigames in your browser on the Noun Town online games page, with no sign-up needed. Every word in the Japanese glossary also has native audio and an example sentence you can revisit any time.
"Pollution" in other languages
Curated by Jack Ratcliffe
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. Want to play the full game? Get Noun Town on Steam.
Noun Town on PC, Mac & VR
These browser games are just a taste. The full Noun Town is a bigger, deeper 3D world: explore a living town, talk to its characters and learn thousands of words in immersive VR, Mixed Reality, or on your computer. It's an award-winning game with 590+ reviews on Steam and 12 languages to learn.
See the full game ▶Spot an error? Email us at contact@noun.town