How do you say "sake" in Japanese?

In Japanese, "sake" is 日本酒 (nihonshu). It is a noun.

Listen to the pronunciation:

Illustration of sake from Noun Town

Pronunciation

日本酒 is written in kanji. Romanised as nihonshu, it sounds roughly like "nee-hoh-n-shoo" to an English ear.

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Questions about 日本酒

How do you pronounce 日本酒?

日本酒 is romanised as nihonshu. Say it roughly like "nee-hoh-n-shoo" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.

Is 日本酒 formal or casual?

日本酒 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 日本酒 written in Japanese?

日本酒 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.