パソコン

What it means

パソコン (pasokon) means a personal computer (PC): an electronic device used by an individual for tasks such as web browsing, office work, multimedia, gaming and programming. In everyday Japanese it refers to consumer and office machines (desktops and laptops) that a single user operates, emphasizing an end-user device rather than large shared computers or servers.

Main meanings

• A household or office device distinguished from smartphones and tablets by its full keyboard, larger screen and general-purpose OS.
• Metonymically, a user's machine (e.g., referring to files, settings or problems on "my PC").
• In marketing or listings, a category label that groups hardware (desktop towers, notebooks) rather than software or services.

How to use it

Used across casual conversation, advertising and journalism to mean a personal computer; common in spoken Japanese and everyday writing, while more formal texts or technical documents may prefer コンピュータ (konpyūta) or the full パーソナルコンピュータ (pāsonaru konpyūta). It also appears in compound words like ノートパソコン (nōto pasokon) for laptops and product names.