How do you say "smell" in Japanese?

嗅ぐ

kagu

Verb Kanji

In Japanese, "smell" is 嗅ぐ (kagu).

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Pronunciation

Kagu is two short syllables, ka and gu, said quickly with a soft g sound rather than a hard English g.

Writing and usage

嗅ぐ is written using kanji. It's a verb, 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

焼きたてのパンの匂いがする。

yaki tateno pan no nioi gasuru.

I can smell fresh bread.

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How to remember 嗅ぐ

Kagu sounds like 'car goo', though the image to keep is simpler: sniffing the air, ka-gu, to catch a scent of fresh bread.

Related words

Browse all Japanese words in the glossary.

Questions about 嗅ぐ

How do you pronounce 嗅ぐ?

Kagu is two short syllables, ka and gu, said quickly with a soft g sound rather than a hard English g.

Is 嗅ぐ formal or casual?

嗅ぐ 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 嗅ぐ written in Japanese?

嗅ぐ is written using kanji. Romanised, it reads as kagu.

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.

"Smell" 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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