酒
Meaning in Englishalcohol, sake
Animated kanji stroke order
Related sentences
Word context
What it means
酒 (sake) means an alcoholic drink in Japanese.
Main meanings
- Specific fermented rice wine traditionally brewed in Japan and often referred to by its dedicated name, distinct from other liquors.
- The Sino-Japanese reading shu used as a bound morpheme in compound words to indicate types of alcoholic beverages or processes related to brewing.
- Figurative or cultural sense referring to drinking practices, communal toasts, or the social act of drinking rather than a specific liquid.
- Administrative or commercial category used in shops, labeling, and taxation to group products that contain ethanol.
How to use it
Used across everyday speech, culinary contexts, religious offerings, and commerce; the native reading appears in casual speech and names of drinks, while the Sino-Japanese reading is common in formal compounds; polite speech often adds honorifics when referring to someone else's drink; appears on menus, labels, and in descriptions of cooking and rituals.
Variants and close terms
- 日本酒 (nihonshu) — Japanese rice wine, the national category often called "sake" in English
- お酒 (o-sake) — polite form used in conversation
- 酒類 (shurui) — alcoholic beverages (category/term)
- 焼酎 (しょうちゅう shochu) — a distilled Japanese spirit, a different type of liquor
- ビール (biiru) — beer, a katakana loanword for a non-Japanese-style alcoholic drink
- 水 (みず mizu) — water (antonym in the context of beverages)
Composition
酒 (sake) is built around the 酉 radical, historically a jar or vessel associated with fermented drinks which signals the character's association with alcohol; the remaining strokes of the character historically contributed to its pronunciation rather than changing the basic meaning.
Origin
Alcoholic fermentation in the Japanese archipelago dates back millennia, with rice-based fermentations becoming prominent by the Yayoi period; over centuries brewing techniques, ritual use in Shinto ceremonies, and commercial production evolved so the concept identified by 酒 (sake) became central to cuisine, religion, and trade.
Word class
noun (名詞)