How do you say "brush" in Japanese?

In Japanese, "brush" is 磨く (migaku). It is a verb pronounced "mee-gah-koo".

Listen to the pronunciation:

Pronunciation

磨く is written in kanji and hiragana. Romanised as migaku, it sounds roughly like "mee-gah-koo" to an English ear.

Example sentence

彼は上手に磨きます。

Kare wa jouzu ni migakimasu.

He to brushs well.

Usage notes

磨く means to brush in Japanese. This is an everyday verb that learners encounter early. Mastering its masu form (磨きます) and te-form opens up many sentence patterns.

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Questions about 磨く

How do you pronounce 磨く?

磨く is romanised as migaku. Say it roughly like "mee-gah-koo" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.

Is 磨く formal or casual?

磨く is the plain (dictionary) form, used in casual speech and in dictionaries. For polite situations, verbs take a different ending, typically -masu. In Noun Town the game always shows the dictionary form.

How is 磨く written in Japanese?

磨く is written using kanji and hiragana. Kanji characters carry the core meaning; any hiragana or katakana that follow show grammatical endings.

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.