Today’s vocabulary course is about vegetables from around the world.
Below is a selection of the most famous vegetables. The list has 15 words to remember, which does not cover all the vegetables that exist in the world, which means another vocabulary course on vegetables will come much later. As usual, there is nothing complicated. You have to learn all these vocabulary words by heart.
Again, a lot of the vegetable names are taken from English, so I hope you have a good grasp of Shakespeare’s language. And a few others are purely Japanese.
Finally, before you start, be aware that very often, as with animal names, vegetable names are written in hiragana or katakana because most kanji are very complicated to remember, even for Japanese people. However, if only for your general knowledge, I think it would be interesting for you to know, at least by sight, these kanji. If you ever come across them somewhere, at least you’ll know what they are and how they read. If you really want to push it further, you can practice writing them down as well.
野菜 .
ヤサイ
. the vegetables
青物 .
あおもの
. the (green) vegetables
生野菜 .
なまヤサイ
. the raw vegetables
冬菜 .
ふゆな
. the winter vegetables
青野菜 .
あおヤサイ
. the green vegetables
豆 .
まめ
. the peas, the beans
小豆 .
あずき
. the red beans
緑豆 .
リョクトウ
. the mung bean
ブロッコリー
. the broccoli
ポテト
. the potatoes
ガーリック
. the garlic
トマト
. the tomato
オリーブ
. the olive
アボカド
. the avocado
リーキ
. the leek
It’s time to move on to some comments, there are some things to say about most of the words you just saw.
In Japanese, the word "tomato" has several possible writings in kanji, however I preferred to put the version in katakana トマト. The latter seems to be clearly the most common term to say "the tomato" because the easiest to remember, even for the Japanese. If you are interested in the kanji versions, you can always search for them on the Japanese-language tomato Wikipedia page.
The words "potato" also have another possible writing in kanji, however I preferred to put the version in katakana for you ポテト. I do not know if this term is the most common. If you are interested in the kanji version, you can always look it up on the Japanese-language potato Wikipedia page.
You will have noticed that I did not include all the existing vegetables because there is still a lot to discover, in particular how do you say "the corn", "the eggplant", "the fennel", "the cucumber"... Don’t worry, I’ll do another vegetable vocabulary lesson later to complete the list. For now, learn these new words and practice writing and speaking as you are used to now.
I wish you good luck in your revisions.
I give you a little Culture Point below because there are some interesting things to say about the kanji 豆 . まめ. This kanji means "the pea(s), the bean(s)" and is found in all names of beans in Japanese. But it can also be used as a prefix to designate any object small enough to fit in the palm of the hand.
For example, if I’m talking about a tiny figurine, small enough to fit in the palm of my hand, I’ll take the word フィギュア (abbr. from the English word "figurine") and place not the kanji 豆 as a prefix but rather its pronunciation in hiragana or katakana, which gives me :
まめフィギュア or マメフィギュア
If I did not present the example with the kanji above to you, it is quite simply because as a prefix, it is most often written in hiragana or katakana.
I give you other examples of words below, with the kanji 豆 this time :
豆本 .
まめホン
. the miniature book
豆辞典 .
まめジテン
. the miniature dictionary
豆電球 .
まめデンキュウ
. the miniature bulb
We also find this kanji, always as a prefix, in the name of a breed of dog well known in Japan. You must undoubtedly know it well since I gave it to you to learn, it is the Shiba, of its full Japanese name 柴犬 . しばいぬ. There is a variant of the Shiba, which is not a species but rather a dwarf version that we will call in English the dwarf Shiba, which translates in Japanese as 豆柴犬 . まめしばいぬ.
A dwarf Shiba is a Shiba that has been deliberately bred to be smaller, which is the result of mistreatment aimed at hindering the growth of the animal so that it reaches adulthood by keeping a small size. And it is absolutely terrible. Clearly, puppies are deliberately starved in order to reduce their size to the detriment of their health. Breeders who intentionally breed Dwarf Shibas are usually doing so for purely profit. They know that miniaturizing a dog breed can be very profitable, as small dogs are often seen as cute. Of course, many Japanese people and reputable Shiba breeders have a bad opinion of this kind of practice.
In any case, remember this vocabulary word : 豆柴犬 . まめしばいぬ. the dwarf Shiba.
Thus, the kanji 豆 can also designate a dwarf animal. Attention, do not confuse with the child version of the animal indicated as a prefix by the kanji 子 / 小 / 仔. I am talking about dwarf animals. To give you two other examples, "the dwarf rabbit" is written 豆兎 . まめうさぎ and "the dwarf pig" is written 豆豚 . まめぶた.
Apart from the names of beans and the few examples given above, the kanji 豆 . まめ remains quite rare but it is always more vocabulary to know.
Introduction