台所
Meaning in Englishkitchen
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Word context
What it means
台所 (daidokoro) means the kitchen in Japanese. It denotes the room or designated area in a household where food is prepared and cooked and can also evoke the practical, day-to-day activities of meal preparation and food-related work within a home.
Main meanings
- Metonymic use for household management or finances in set phrases such as 台所事情 (daidokoro jijō); here the word extends beyond the physical room to domestic affairs.
- Applied to kitchen-related goods and services when combined with other words to form compounds referring to utensils, supplies or tasks.
- Sometimes used in casual speech to refer to the working area of food preparation in small businesses, though commercial terms like 厨房 (chūbō) are more common for restaurants.
How to use it
Used widely in everyday Japanese to refer to a home kitchen and in compound words for kitchen-related items; in modern spoken language the loanword キッチン (kicchin) often appears in real estate and marketing, while 台所 retains a neutral to slightly traditional tone appropriate for domestic contexts, casual conversation and written descriptions of household life.
Variants and close terms
- キッチン (kicchin) — kitchen (loanword, modern usage)
- 厨房 (chūbō) — kitchen (commercial, restaurant)
- 調理場 (chōriba) — cooking area or preparation space
Composition
- 台 (dai): platform, stand; a raised or designated area.
- 所 (tokoro): place, location.
Origin
The idea of a distinct cooking area in Japanese homes developed over centuries as domestic architecture and cooking technology changed; references to designated household cooking spaces appear in historical records from medieval and early modern Japan as hearths and workzones evolved into enclosed or semi-enclosed rooms identified by specific names.
Word class
noun (名詞)