In Japanese, "sardine" is イワシ (iwashi). It is a noun.
Listen to the pronunciation:
イワシ is written in katakana. Romanised as iwashi, it sounds roughly like "ee-wah-shee" to an English ear.
Curated by Callan Ratcliffe
Practice イワシ and hundreds more Japanese words in the game.
Buy on Steamイワシ is romanised as iwashi. Say it roughly like "ee-wah-shee" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.
イワシ 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.
イワシ is written using katakana. Katakana is typically used for words of foreign origin or to give emphasis.
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.
Spot an error? Email us at contact@noun.town