How do you say "sour" in Japanese?

酸っぱい

suppai

Adjective Kanji

In Japanese, "sour" is 酸っぱい (suppai).

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Pronunciation

Pronounce soo-PIE, the double p creates a small stop before pai, which rhymes with 'pie'.

Writing and usage

酸っぱい is written using kanji. It's a adjective, 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

レモンはとても酸っぱい味がします。

remon hatotemo suppai aji gashimasu.

The lemon tastes very sour.

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How to remember 酸っぱい

Suppai sounds like 'soup, pie', picture biting into a pie that was mistakenly filled with sour soup instead of fruit.

Related words

Browse all Japanese words in the glossary.

Questions about 酸っぱい

How do you pronounce 酸っぱい?

Pronounce soo-PIE, the double p creates a small stop before pai, which rhymes with 'pie'.

Is 酸っぱい formal or casual?

酸っぱい 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 酸っぱい written in Japanese?

酸っぱい is written using kanji. Romanised, it reads as suppai.

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.

"Sour" in other languages

Curated by Callan 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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