How to say "driveway" in Japanese
Choosing the right word
- nounCovers the familiar English sense of driveway: the paved strip leading from the street to a house or garage. A direct katakana borrowing of the English word, though itself a less common choice.
- 私道しどうnounEssentially 'private road': a road owned privately rather than by the public, so its driveway sense is a private access road. For an ordinary home driveway this is seldom the word you want.
Both choices are less common: 「ドライブウェイ」 is the direct loanword for the paved strip leading to a house or garage, while 私道 really means a privately owned road and covers driveway mainly in that access-road sense.
Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only
Japanese equivalents
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