Let's learn some Japanese Halloween Vocabulary!

Places/Objects
Characters
Feelings/Emotions
 
With Halloween just around the corner, let’s take a look at some Japanese words related to this SPOOKY season.

 

First up, let’s take a look at the word ハロウィン (Harowin). Want to guess what it means? You’ve probably already guessed it by looking at the Romaji, haven’t you? Well, for those who are still trying to figure out, it actually means Halloween. Written in Katakana, it is more or less a direct translation from the English Word “Halloween” itself.
 

Places/Objects

  • お墓 (おはか/Ohaka) – Grave
  • 南瓜 (かぼちゃ/Kabocha) – Pumpkin

お墓 (おはか), also read as Ohaka, is a grave! You may see a few if you visit a haunted house or cemetary in Japan.  南瓜 (かぼちゃ), read as Kabocha, is a Pumpkin!

 

Fun Fact: Did you know that Pumpkin is actually considered to be a fruit?
 

Characters

Words for common characters related to Halloween in Japanese:

  • おばけ (Obake) – Ghost
  • 幽霊 (ゆうれい/Yuurei) – Spirit

おばけ, also read as Obake, refers to a Ghost whereas 幽霊 (ゆうれい), read as Yuurei refers to a Spirit. These two are typically considered to be intangible, something that cannot be seen by the human eye nor can they be touched. Both have relatively similar meaning with the latter of the two being generally SPOOKIER to use.

  • 魔女 (まじょ /Majo) – Witch

A 魔女 (まじょ), read as Majo, is a Witch! Typically seen wearing a hat, traveling on a broom or even cooking up some weird concoction back at home in a cauldron. Are you going to dress up as one this Halloween?

  • 吸血鬼 (きゅうけつき/Kyuuketsutki) – Vampire
  • こうもり (Koumori) – Bat

These last few characters here typically go hand in hand. A 吸血鬼 (きゅうけつき), read as Kyuuketsutki, is also known as a Vampire!

 

The latter of the two is こうもり, read as Koumori, refers to a Bat which is an animal with characteristics similar to that of a Vampire.
 

Feelings/Emotions

In this final section, let’s take a look at some feelings and emotions that are typically felt by either us or the characters as mentioned earlier. For the easier one, let’s start off with 怖い (こわい/Kowai) which would generally be used by us to express that something looks scary. Similarly, ドキドキ (Doki-Doki) is the Onomatopoeia for a beating heart and can actually be used to indicate excitement upon seeing something or someone.

Example Sentence

Japanese: 怖い(こわい)、心臓(しんぞう)がドキドキしちゃうよ!
Romaji: Kowai, Shinzou ga Doki-Doki shichau yo!
English: That’s scary, my heart is beating very fast right now.

Alternatively, the word 恐怖 (きょうふ/Kyoufu) can also be used to express your fears and dread for something.
The next few are words that tend to be associated with the characters we mentioned earlier. The word 怒り (いかり/Ikari), can be used to express the anger and hatred that someone holds towards another individual.
Another word would be 呪い (のろい/Noroi), which can be translated to as “Curse”.
As these are words that would generally come across as very strong, I don’t think they will be used that frequently in your daily lives. Nevertheless, it’s still fun to learn some new vocabulary for Halloween right? ;D

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