How do you say "shrimp" in Japanese?

In Japanese, "shrimp" is えび (ebi). It is a noun.

Listen to the pronunciation:

Illustration of shrimp from Noun Town

Pronunciation

えび is written in hiragana. Romanised as ebi, it sounds roughly like "eh-bee" to an English ear.

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Questions about えび

How do you pronounce えび?

えび is romanised as ebi. Say it roughly like "eh-bee" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.

Is えび formal or casual?

えび 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 えび written in Japanese?

えび is written using hiragana. Hiragana is the basic Japanese syllabary used for native words and grammatical elements.

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.