How to say "jail" in Japanese
Choosing the right word
- 牢獄ろうごくnounThe word for a prison or jail as the place of confinement itself — the walls and cells where people are locked up. It suits general talk about incarceration rather than naming an official facility.
- 刑務所けいむしょnounA prison as an official institution: the facility where people convicted of crimes serve their sentences. Choose this for 'jail' when the point is a convict serving time, not a suspect in custody.ここには刑務所があった。↗There used to be a prison here.
- 留置場りゅうちじょうnounA police lockup: cells where suspects are held in custody while under investigation, before conviction. This matches the 'jail' sense of short-term detention, as distinct from a prison where convicts serve their sentences.
- 拘置所こうちしょnounA detention house under the justice system: an official facility where suspects are held in custody while awaiting or standing trial. It is closer to 'detention center' than to a prison for convicted inmates.
- 別荘べっそうnounLiterally a villa or holiday home; colloquially a jocular name for prison, as if doing time were a country stay. Seldom the word you want for 'jail' — it is a joke, not a neutral term.
Use 刑務所 for the institution where convicts serve sentences, 留置場 for police cells holding suspects during investigation, 拘置所 for official pretrial detention, 牢獄 for prison as a place of confinement, and 別荘 only as a joke.
Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only
Japanese equivalents
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