How to say "hanger-on" in Japanese

• 冷や飯食いひやめしくい
  nounCovers the dependent sense: someone who lives off another household, literally 'one who eats cold rice.' Use it for a person kept and fed at another's expense rather than a flunky trailing a boss.
• 腰巾着こしぎんちゃく
  nounThe follower and sycophant sense: a person who sticks close to a powerful figure like a pouch worn at the waist, catering to them as a flunky. Best when you mean a boss's yes-man.
  彼かれは大臣だいじんの腰こしぎんちゃくだ。↗

  He is just a minion of the minister.
• 下駄の雪げたのゆき
  expression, nounA derogatory idiom, literally 'snow stuck under a geta sandal,' for a lackey or sycophant who clings to someone and will not leave. Vivid but marginal; you will seldom need it for 'hanger-on.'
• 食客しょっかく
  nounThe freeloader sense: a person who lives and eats in another's home without paying, a parasite on the household. Fits a boarder living off a host, not a follower tagging along.
• すねかじり
  nounThe sponger sense: someone who lives off others, typically their own parents; it also covers 'freeloader' and 'leech.' Usually written in kana alone.
  これ以上いじょう姉ねえさんのすねかじりはやめたまえ！↗

  Don't live off your sister any more.

Choose by relationship: 食客 and 「すねかじり」 are for freeloaders living off someone else, 「すねかじり」 especially off one's parents; 腰巾着 and 「下駄の雪」 are belittling terms for sycophants clinging to a powerful person; 「冷や飯食い」 for a dependent in another's household.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

• 冷や飯食いひやめしくいhanger-on
• 腰巾着こしぎんちゃくhanger-on
• 下駄の雪げたのゆきhanger-on
• 食客しょっかくfree-loader
• すねかじりsponger (e.g. off one's parents)
• 金魚のフンきんぎょのふんperson who just tags along
• 金魚のうんこきんぎょのうんこperson who just tags along
• 余り者あまりものinterloper
• 冷や飯ひやめしhanger-on
• 巾着きんちゃくhanger-on
• 厄介者やっかいものhanger-on
• あぶらむしhanger-on