Word
Kana: そうこ Romaji: souko Level: N2

倉庫

Meaning in English

storehouse, warehouse

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Dictionary

Word context

What it means

倉庫 means a building or space used to store goods and materials. It is a dedicated storage facility within a business or logistics network designed to protect inventory and support supply chains.

Main meanings

  • Primary sense: a building where goods are stored for wholesale, distribution, or inventory management.
  • Broader sense: a storage facility or storeroom; sometimes used metaphorically as a storehouse of knowledge or memory.
  • Contextual nuance: used in both industrial and commercial settings; less common for private homes.

How to use it

Used in formal and technical contexts such as logistics planning, inventory control, and commercial agreements. It appears in business Japanese, official documents, and media discussions of warehousing; common compounds include 倉庫内 and 倉庫業.

Variants and close terms

  • 貯蔵所 — ちょぞうじょ (chouzoujo)
  • 物置 — ものおき (mono-oki)
  • 蔵 — くら (kura)

Composition

  • 倉: storehouse, a place for keeping goods; strongly associated with storage and wealth
  • 庫: storeroom, a container or repository; conveys official or large-scale storage

Etymology

From Chinese 倉庫; the on'yomi readings are sō and ko, forming 倉庫 read as sōko in modern Japanese.

Origin

Warehouses and storehouses operated in feudal and early modern Japan to store rice and goods; the term 倉庫 emerged during the Edo period as commerce expanded and logistics required dedicated storage facilities.

Word class

Noun (名詞)

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