How do you say "salamander" in Japanese?

サンショウウオ

sanshouuo

Noun Katakana

In Japanese, "salamander" is サンショウウオ (sanshouuo).

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Pronunciation

Sanshouuo is sahn-shoh-oo-oh, a longer word with a distinctive double vowel stretch in the middle.

Writing and usage

サンショウウオ is written using katakana. 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

サンショウウオは湿った丸太の下に隠れていた。

sanshouuo ha shimetsu ta maruta no shitani kakure teita.

The salamander hid under a damp log.

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How to remember サンショウウオ

The long vowel stretch, shoh-oo, mimics the salamander's slow, damp crawl under a log.

Related words

Browse all Japanese words in the glossary.

Questions about サンショウウオ

How do you pronounce サンショウウオ?

Sanshouuo is sahn-shoh-oo-oh, a longer word with a distinctive double vowel stretch in the middle.

Is サンショウウオ formal or casual?

サンショウウオ 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 サンショウウオ written in Japanese?

サンショウウオ is written using katakana. Romanised, it reads as sanshouuo.

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.

"Salamander" 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.

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