Word
最高
Meaning in Englishhighest, best, supreme
Animated kanji stroke order
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Word context
What it means
最高 (saikou) means the superlative 'the best' or 'the highest' and denotes the ultimate degree, quality, or level of something in judgment or measurement.
Main meanings
- Colloquial interjection meaning 'awesome' or strong praise, used to applaud experiences or things.
- Numeric or measurable maximum — the top value in a scale, such as a peak measurement or record.
- Institutional sense referring to the supreme position or top authority in a hierarchy.
- Attributive use to mark top-ranked categories, brands, or grades when qualifying nouns.
How to use it
Common across spoken and written Japanese: frequently used in casual speech as an exclamation, in advertising and reviews to market products, and in technical or legal contexts to indicate maximum values or supreme bodies; grammatically it appears with the copula (だ (da)/です (desu)) for statements, with the particle の (no) to modify nouns, and alone as an emphatic interjection.
Variants and close terms
- 最上 (saijou) — supreme, topmost
- 最高級 (saikoukyuu) — top-class, highest grade
- 最低 (saitei) — lowest (antonym)
- すごい (sugoi) — amazing, impressive (colloquial synonym in praise)
Composition
- 最 (sai) — 'most', 'utmost', a superlative marker.
- 高 (kou) — 'high', 'tall', 'elevated'.
- Combined literally as 'most high', producing the modern meaning 'highest' or 'supreme'.
Word class
noun / na-adjective (名詞・形容動詞)
Word
Related words by kanji and components
N3
高まる
takamaru
to rise; to grow; to mount (v.i.)
N4
最近
saikin
recently, nowadays, lately
N4
高校生
koukousei
high school student
N4
高校
koukou
high school, senior high school
N4
最も
mottomo
most, extremely
N4
最後
saigo
last, end, final
N4
最初
saisho
beginning, first
N4
高校; 高等学校
koukou; koutougakkou
high school; senior high school
N5
高い
takai
expensive / tall
Kanji