Japanese Word Generator

The Japanese Word Generator draws one to ten words at random from a list of 631 and shows each with its reading in hiragana, its kanji, the English meaning and the romaji. A typical card reads "にんげん、人間 — Meaning: human (ningen)". It is a vocabulary drill for beginners and a quick source of real words for anyone who needs one, from a language learner reviewing between lessons to a writer naming something.

How a card is laid out

Each entry has two parts. The top line is the word written in Japanese: first the reading in hiragana, then a Japanese comma (、), then the kanji form, as in ちゃいろ、茶色. Words normally written in kana alone, such as the particles に, まで and も, show just the kana. Where a word has more than one accepted reading or spelling, the entry lists them all, for example きのう、さくじつ、昨日 for "yesterday". The second line is the English meaning with the romaji (Latin-letter spelling) in parentheses, so you can pronounce a word before you can read it. Some entries add a usage note in square brackets, such as "I, myself (boku, mainly used by males)".

The card capitalizes the first letter of each English word, which is a display choice of the shared word card and not part of the Japanese. There is no audio, no example sentence, and no category filter; every draw is from the full list.

What the 631 words cover

The list is beginner vocabulary organized by theme, close to what a first-year textbook or the JLPT N5 and N4 levels would cover. Working through it you will meet:

• People and pronouns: 人 (hito, person), 男の子 (otokonoko, boy), 赤ちゃん (akachan, baby), and the pronouns 私 (watashi / watakushi / atashi), 僕 (boku) and 俺 (ore) with notes on who uses each.
• Occupations: 医者 (isha, doctor), 看護師 (kangoshi, nurse), 弁護士 (bengoshi, lawyer), 消防士 (shouboushi, firefighter), 政治家 (seijika, politician).
• Body, food and animals: 口 (kuchi, mouth), 肝 (kimo, liver), 鶏 (niwatori, chicken), 芋 (imo, yam or potato).
• Nature, materials and colors: 星 (hoshi, star), 鉄 (tetsu, iron), 茶色 (chairo, brown).
• Places and objects: 駅 (eki, station), エスカレーター (esukarētā, escalator), 定規 (jougi, ruler).
• Verbs and adjectives: about 90 verbs in dictionary form such as 噛む (kamu, to bite) and 喜ぶ (yorokobu, to be glad), plus adjectives like 冷たい (tsumetai, cold) and 凄い (sugoi, amazing).
• Grammar words: counters and numbers (十, tō, ten things), demonstratives (あの, ano, that) and particles (に, まで, も).

Reading the three scripts

Japanese mixes three writing systems, and the cards show two of them side by side. Hiragana is the phonetic syllabary used for native words, grammar endings and readings; the first part of every card is hiragana, so you can always sound a word out. Kanji are characters borrowed from Chinese that carry meaning; 人 means person whether it is read hito, jin or nin. The second part of the card shows the kanji form as it would appear in print. Katakana, the angular syllabary for loanwords, appears in entries like エスカレーター (escalator) that came from English. Romaji is not a Japanese script; it is the transliteration in parentheses, and the macron in esukarētā marks a long vowel.

Verbs are listed in dictionary (plain) form, which ends in an -u sound: kamu, yorokobu, shimeru. That is the form you will find in a dictionary, not the polite -masu form used in conversation with strangers.

Ways to use it

• Flashcard review. Draw ten, cover the meanings, and test the readings. Then cover the Japanese and test recall from the English.
• Kanji recognition. Because the reading is given, you can focus on matching kanji to sound without a dictionary.
• Sentence practice. Draw three words and write one sentence using all of them.
• Comparing languages. The same drill exists for the French, German, Spanish and Latin word generators. If you have not picked a language yet, the Random Language Generator will.

See all word & language generators for the rest.