How to say "sort" in Japanese
Choosing the right word
- nounCovers the plain 'what sort or kind?' sense — what type a person or thing is — plus 'style'. Typical when talking about tastes, such as what sort of person someone likes.
- 類るいnoun, noun (suffix)A kind, sort or class: the word when you group things by category. Typical in talk of whether something belongs to the same class as another, or has no equal of its kind.
- 品種ひんしゅnounA type or variety of goods — sorts of merchandise — and also the word for varieties or breeds of plants and animals; not for kinds of people or abstract sorts.
- 毛並みけなみnounLiterally the texture of an animal's fur; figuratively, a person's breeding or pedigree. As 'sort' it survives only in that figurative use, so it is seldom the word you want for a plain sort.
Use 「タイプ」 for the plain 'what sort?' sense of a person or thing, 類 when thinking in classes or categories, 品種 for varieties of goods or breeds, and 「毛並み」 only figuratively, for someone's sort by breeding.
Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only
Japanese equivalents
See also
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