Jouzu is the Japanese word for ‘skillful’ or ‘good (at)’, explained in detail

How to say skillful in Japanese

Japanese people would say, “jouzu”. It is the Japanese word for ‘skillful’ or ‘good (at)’. In this blog post, I will explain it in detail based on its kanji expression and history. And also, I will explain how Japanese people use it through examples. Let’s get started!

Contents

• Definition and meanings of jouzu
• Kanji characters used in jouzu
• Some history of jouzu
• Example #1: how to use jouzu meaning ‘good at’
• Example #2: how to use jouzu meaning ‘skillful’
• Summary

Definition and meanings of jouzu

First of all, let me start with the definition and meanings of “jouzu”.

• jouzu – 上手 (じょうず) : a noun, but often used as an adjective to mean ‘skillful’ or ‘good (at)’ in Japanese.

In Japanese, the border between nouns and some adjectives called na-adjectives is very ambiguous. Basically, na-adjectives consist of one noun and one conjugative suffix. So, some nouns can work as abbreviated or shortened forms of na-adjectives. Actually, “jouzu” is widely used as an abbreviated adjective meaning ‘skillful’ or ‘good (at)’.

Compared to its grammatical definition, its meanings are very simple and clear, I think. To understand it a bit more, however, let me explain its kanji characters in detail.

Kanji characters used in jouzu

Below are the ones.

• 上 – a kanji character widely used to mean ‘top’, ‘upper’, ‘above’ or some such in Japanese.
• 手 – a kanji character widely used to mean ‘hand’ in Japanese. It can also be found in words like “otearai“. Depending on the situation, it can be used as a plural noun to mean ‘hands’. Learn more about Japanese plural.

From these two kanji characters, we can understand that the word, “jouzu”, literally means ‘top of hand’. Unfortunately, the concept formed by its kanji doesn’t seem to be in line with its meanings. Sometimes, this kind of mismatching between appearance and meaning could happen. But, how can it mean ‘skillful’ or ‘good (at)’?

Some history of jouzu

To understand why “jouzu” can mean ‘skillful’ or ‘good (at)’ in Japanese, we need to know some history of it. The word, “jouzu”, originally came from its heteronym, “kamite”, which is highly related to Japanese theater culture.

• kamite – 上手 (かみて) : a noun meaning ‘stage left’ in Japanese.

Interestingly, it was said that actors at the stage left (it’s the right side from the audience) tended to play better than those who were at the stage right. In other words, actors on “kamite” tended to play better. This tendency led to the use of the word, “kamite”, as a word meaning ‘skillful’ or ‘good (at)’. And its pronunciation has been changed as time goes by. Today, “kamite” only means ‘stage left’. “Jouzu” means ‘skillful’ or ‘good (at)’.

This is the background of “jouzu” and the reason it can mean ‘skillful’ or ‘good (at)’ in the Japanese language.

Then, let me explain how Japanese people use it. Please take a look at the examples below.

Example #1: how to use jouzu meaning ‘good at’

Below are new words used in the example sentence.

• kanojo – 彼女 (かのじょ) : a pronoun meaning ‘she’ in Japanese. Depending on context, it can also mean one’s girlfriend. In the example, it’s used as just a pronoun, though.
• wa – は : a binding particle working as a case maker or topic maker. In the example, it’s put after the pronoun, “kanojo”, to give a topic.
• zatsudan – 雑談 (ざつだん) : a noun meaning ‘small talk’ or ‘chat’ in Japanese. Learn more about “zatsudan”.
• ga – が : a case particle put after a noun to make the subject word or the object word. In the example, it’s put after the noun, “zatsudan”, to make the subject word in the sentence.
• desu – です : an auxiliary verb put after a noun or adjective to make it polite. In the example, it is put after the noun, “jouzu”, to make it sound polite.

This is a typical usage of “jouzu”. In the example sentence, it’s used to mean ‘good at’. When we want to mean ‘to be good at’ in Japanese, it would be a good choice.

Example #2: how to use jouzu meaning ‘skillful’

Below are new words used in the example sentence.

• kare – 彼 (かれ) : a pronoun meaning ‘he’ in Japanese. Depending on context, it can also mean one’s boyfriend. In the example, it’s used as just a pronoun, though.
• watashi – 私 (わたし) : a pronoun meaning ‘I’ in Japanese.
• yori – より : a case particle put after a noun to express a basis of comparison. In the example, it is put after the pronoun, “watashi”, to express the basis of comparison with “kare”. Learn more about “watashi yori”.
• tenisu – テニス (てにす) : a noun meaning ‘tennis’ in Japanese. It’s a Japanese English word which originally came from the pronunciation of “tennis”.

This is another typical usage of “jouzu”. As this example shows, when we want to say “skillful” in Japanese, it would be the best word.

Summary

In this blog post, I’ve explained the word, “jouzu”, in detail based on its kanji characters and history. And also, I’ve explained how Japanese people use it through the examples. Let me summarize them as follows.

• jouzu – 上手 (じょうず) : a noun, but often used as an adjective to mean ‘skillful’ or ‘good (at)’. These two kanji characters literally mean ‘top of hand’. It originally came from its heteronym, “kamite”.
• kamite – 上手 (かみて) : a noun meaning ‘stage left’ in Japanese. Actors on the stage left tended to play better than those who were on the stage right. So, it started to be used as a word to mean ‘skillful’ or ‘good (at)’.

Hope my explanations are understandable and helpful for Japanese learners.