二十歳
Meaning in Englishtwenty years old
Animated kanji stroke order
Related sentences
Word context
What it means
What does 二十歳 mean? It denotes the age of twenty years, a milestone often associated with adulthood in Japan.
Main meanings
- demographic descriptor: used to label someone as twenty years old in profiles, statistics, and media
- age identity: describes an individual’s age as twenty
- cultural milestone: linked to rites of passage and society's recognition of adulthood
How to use it
Used in official documents, educational contexts, and descriptive writing to state or discuss age; in casual speech the noun form is common and can appear with の to modify a noun, while the standalone pronunciation はたち is often used when referring to a person who has reached twenty
Variants and close terms
- はたち (hatachi) — twenty years old; primary reading
- にじゅっさい (nijussai) — alternative reading
- にじゅうさい (nijuu-sai) — another reading
Composition
- 二 = two
- 十 = ten
- 歳 = years old; together they denote the age of twenty
Etymology
二十 means twenty and 歳 means years old; the word historically features a special kun reading はたち (hatachi) for twenty years old, with alternative written pronunciations such as にじゅっさい (nijussai) and にじゅうさい (nijuu-sai) in some contexts
Origin
Modern origin: the social milestone of turning twenty and the associated Coming of Age Day, formalized as a national practice in 1948 to celebrate adulthood
Word class
Noun (名詞)