How do you say "spinach" in Japanese?

ほうれん草

houren kusa

Noun Kanji

In Japanese, "spinach" is ほうれん草 (houren kusa).

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Pronunciation

Houren kusa is two words fused, 'hoh-ren ku-sa', with a long 'ou' at the start and a light final 'sa'.

Writing and usage

ほうれん草 is written using kanji. 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

彼女はほうれん草とニンニクを調理しました。

kanojo hahouren kusa to ninniku wo chouri shimashita.

She cooked spinach with garlic.

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How to remember ほうれん草

Houren kusa literally means 'Persian grass' -- picture spinach as an ancient grass imported all the way from Persia.

Related words

Browse all Japanese words in the glossary.

Questions about ほうれん草

How do you pronounce ほうれん草?

Houren kusa is two words fused, 'hoh-ren ku-sa', with a long 'ou' at the start and a light final 'sa'.

Is ほうれん草 formal or casual?

ほうれん草 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 ほうれん草 written in Japanese?

ほうれん草 is written using kanji. Romanised, it reads as houren kusa.

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.

"Spinach" 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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