菓子
Meaning in Englishsweets, confectionery
Animated kanji stroke order
Word context
What it means
菓子 means sweets or confectionery. It denotes a broad category of edible sweet treats, including candies, pastries, and other desserts, used in everyday Japanese to refer to any sweet snack without specifying traditional forms.
Main meanings
- General category of sweets or confections, including candy, pastries, and desserts
- Used for sweets offered as gifts or served at events and gatherings
- In everyday usage it contrasts with 和菓子 (wagashi) for traditional Japanese sweets and with 洋菓子 (yōgashi) for Western-style confections
How to use it
Used as a general noun for sweet foods in formal and casual contexts; common in menus, shop names, and product labeling; often followed by qualifiers to specify type, such as 和菓子 (wagashi) or 洋菓子 (yōgashi).
Variants and close terms
- 和菓子 (wagashi) — traditional Japanese sweets
- 洋菓子 (yōgashi) — Western-style confections
- お菓子 (okashi) — everyday generic term for sweets; romaji okashi
Composition
- 菓: a character linked to sweets; used in compounds to denote confectionery
- 子: a common nominal suffix forming nouns; in 菓子 it helps turn the concept into a thing that can be eaten
Etymology
菓 historically signals sweets or fruit-related foods; 子 acts as a nominal suffix; the compound is read kashi in modern Japanese.
Origin
菓子 has appeared in classical Japanese texts and markets from early periods; its broad sense expanded in the Edo period with the growth of the confectionery trade, and today it denotes sweets in general.
Word class
Noun (菓子)