How to say "plate" in Japanese
Choosing the right word
- 皿さらnounThe everyday word for a plate or dish — the shallow vessel food is served on at a meal. It also covers platters and, by extension, disc-shaped things.
- nounThe loanword, used for flat plates bearing names or inscriptions, such as a nameplate or a license plate. It is not the word for the plate you eat from.
- 図版ずはんnounA plate in the book-illustration sense: a picture, figure, or illustration printed in a publication, the sort of plate found in art books and catalogues.
- 版はんnounA plate or block in the printing sense: the surface from which copies are printed. It is never the plate you eat from — that is 皿.
- 板いたnounA flat piece of material — a sheet of metal, a plate of glass, a pane, or a slab. For "plate" in the sense of flat glass or metal, this is the word.
Use 皿 for a plate you eat from, 「プレート」 for inscribed plates like nameplates, 図版 for illustration plates in books, 版 for printing plates, and 板 for flat sheets of glass or metal.
Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only
Japanese equivalents
See also
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