The Japanese word for car is kuruma and jidousha. Karuma means car and the word is commonly used in informal settings while jidousha means automobile and is more suited for formal settings.
JapanesePod101.com – The Fastest Way to Learn Japanese Guaranteed
| Romanji | Kanji | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Car くるま | Kuruma | 車 | |
| Automobile じどうしゃ | Jidousha | 自動車 | |
| Rental car レンタカー | Rentakā | None | |
| New car しんしゃ | Shinsha | 新車 | |
| Secondhand car ちゅうこしゃ | Chūko-sha | 中古車 | |
| foreign-made/imported car がいしゃ | Gaisha | 外車 | |
| Japanese car にほんしゃ | Nihonsha | 日本車 | |
| Electric car でんきじどうしゃ | Denki jidōsha | 電気自動車 |
The kanji for car
The kanji for kuruma is 車 which simply means car but the kanji for the more formal jidousha is 自動車. The two uses the same kanji character except that the formal jidousha has two additional characters that precedes it – namely 自 and 動.
The first of these additional characters – 自 – is a prefix that means ‘self’ and the second character – 動 – is an expression for the act of moving. So the word jidousha basically translates to self-moving car.