How to say "hell" in Japanese

• ヘルCommon
  nounThe loanword from English. It keeps the foreign flavor of 'hell' and fits contexts where that flavor is wanted; for hell in native Japanese usage, 地獄 is the word to reach for.
• 地獄じごくJLPT N1approx.Common
  nounThe native word: the Hell of religious teaching, and by extension any hellish place or situation. In most contexts this is the word you want, whether the sense is religious or figurative.
  魔王まおうは言いった。「俺おれが負まけるわっきゃねーべ。審判しんぱんは皆みな地獄じごくにいるのだ」。↗

  "How can I lose?" answered Satan. "All the umpires are down here in Hell."
• 汚泥おでいCommon
  nounLiterally mud or sludge; as 'hell' it works only figuratively, for a hopeless, degraded situation or despair, in written or rhetorical language. It is seldom the word you want for hell itself — use 地獄.

Use 地獄 for both the religious Hell and any hellish situation; 「ヘル」 is the loanword when the English flavor is wanted; 汚泥 works only figuratively, for a hopeless, degraded state.

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

• ヘルhell
• インフェルノinferno
• 奈落ならくNaraka
• 黄泉よみHades
• 地獄じごくHell
• 汚泥おでいhopeless situation
• 冥府めいふhell
• 黄泉路よみじHades