帽子
Meaning in Englishhat, cap
Animated kanji stroke order
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Word context
What it means
帽子 means a piece of headwear worn on the head, designed to protect from sun or cold, or to serve as a fashion accessory. It encompasses a wide range of shapes and materials.
Main meanings
- sun and cold protection and practical use in daily life
- fashion statement, personal style, and accessory in outfits
- formal, ceremonial, or uniform contexts where hats indicate role or status
How to use it
Used in everyday speech to refer to hats in general; in formal writing or catalogs, 帽子 is the standard term, while style-specific words (for example ハット, キャップ) are used for particular kinds; verbs like かぶる attach to 帽子 to indicate the act of wearing on the head; examples: 夏には帽子をかぶる, 公式イベントでは帽子を脱ぐことが多い
Variants and close terms
- ハット (hatto) – hat, romaji hatto
- キャップ (kyappu) – cap, romaji kyappu
- 麦わら帽子 (mugiwara-bōshi) – straw hat, romaji mugiwara-bōshi
Composition
- 帽: a head-covering meaning, typically made of cloth and used for protection
- 子: nominal suffix turning the concept into a concrete noun
- Combination: 帽子 denotes a general category of head coverings
Etymology
Phonetic evolution: 帽子 combines the kanji 帽 and 子; the reading ぼうし (bōshi) reflects a kan-on reading for 帽 (bō) and shi for 子, forming the common modern pronunciation, illustrating a Sino-Japanese construction rather than a direct loanword.
Origin
Borrowed into Japanese from Chinese characters used for headwear; the term appears in classical texts and solidified in common usage across periods, becoming the generic noun for hats.
Word class
noun (名詞)