Home › Japanese › Glossary › submarine
Japanese vocabulary · Beginner
How do you say "submarine" in Japanese?
潜水艦
sensuikan
In Japanese, "submarine" is 潜水艦 (sensuikan).
Listen to the pronunciation:
Free Japanese learning game. No sign-up, play in browser. See all games
Pronunciation
Sensuikan has four short syllables, sen-su-i-kan, with sen meaning submerge and suikan relating to water travel.
Writing and usage
潜水艦 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
潜水艦は波の下に潜った。
sensuikan ha nami no shitani sen tta.
The submarine dived beneath the waves.
Test your Japanese knowledge in our free browser games.
How to remember 潜水艦
Sensuikan starts with 'sen', meaning submerge, so picture the vessel sinking straight down the moment you hear that first syllable.
Related words
- airplane 飛行機 hikouki
- helicopter ヘリコプター herikoputaa
- ship 船 fune
- boat ボート booto
- ferry フェリー ferii
- train 列車 ressha
- subway 地下鉄 chikatetsu
- tram トラム toramu
- taxi タクシー takushii
Browse all Japanese words in the glossary.
Questions about 潜水艦
How do you pronounce 潜水艦?
Sensuikan has four short syllables, sen-su-i-kan, with sen meaning submerge and suikan relating to water travel.
Is 潜水艦 formal or casual?
潜水艦 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 潜水艦 written in Japanese?
潜水艦 is written using kanji. Romanised, it reads as sensuikan.
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.
"Submarine" 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.
Noun Town on PC, Mac & VR
These browser games are just a taste. The full Noun Town is a bigger, deeper 3D world: explore a living town, talk to its characters and learn thousands of words in immersive VR, Mixed Reality, or on your computer. It's an award-winning game with 590+ reviews on Steam and 12 languages to learn.
See the full game ▶Spot an error? Email us at contact@noun.town