How do you say "whack-a-mouse" in Japanese?

もぐら叩き

moguratataki

Noun Kanji

In Japanese, "whack-a-mouse" is もぐら叩き (moguratataki).

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Pronunciation

もぐら叩き is written using kanji. Romanised as moguratataki, it sounds roughly like "moh-goo-rah-tah-tah-kee" to an English ear.

Writing and usage

Moguratataki builds from mole (もぐら) in hiragana plus hit (叩く) in kanji. The name is descriptive: literally hit-the-mole, showing Japanese gaming term construction.

Example sentence

この建物には大きなもぐら叩きがあります。

Kono tatemono ni wa ookina Moguratataki ga arimasu.

This building has a large whack-a-mouse.

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How to remember もぐら叩き

Mogura is a mole (the animal). Tataki (叩) looks like striking motions. Picture a mallet hitting plastic mole heads pop up and down.

Related words

Browse all Japanese words in the glossary.

See more Japanese nouns.

Questions about もぐら叩き

How do you pronounce もぐら叩き?

もぐら叩き is romanised as moguratataki. Say it roughly like "moh-goo-rah-tah-tah-kee" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.

Is もぐら叩き formal or casual?

もぐら叩き 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 もぐら叩き written in Japanese?

もぐら叩き is written using kanji. Moguratataki builds from mole (もぐら) in hiragana plus hit (叩く) in kanji.

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.

"Whack-a-mouse" in other languages

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