How to say "princess" in Japanese
Choosing the right word
- 姫ひめnounThe princess of fairy tales and other Western contexts, and by extension a young lady of noble birth; this is the natural word for storybook princesses.
- nounThe loanword from English; use it where the English word itself would fit, for Western-style princesses and in names or titles.
- 王女おうじょnounA princess by birth, the daughter of a king, as opposed to one who married into royalty; the term you meet in news about foreign royal families.
- 妃ひnoun (suffix)A princess in the sense of a royal consort: a woman who became one by marrying a king or prince, rather than a princess by birth; it also means 'consort'.
- 妃殿下ひでんかnounThe respectful way to address or refer to a princess, corresponding to 'Her Royal Highness'; it belongs to honorific (sonkeigo) speech about actual royalty.
Choose 姫 for fairy-tale or Western princesses and noble young ladies, 「プリンセス」 as the English loanword, 王女 for a princess by birth, 妃 for a royal consort, and 妃殿下 for respectful address.
Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only
Japanese equivalents
See also
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