What does “ousama” mean in Japanese?
Native speakers say “ousama” to mean ‘king’ in Japanese. Perhaps, some Japanese learners know this word as it is sometimes used in Japanese movies, video games, novels, manga, anime and the like. In this blog post, however, I will explain this word in detail based on its kanji expression. And also, I will explain how to use it through example sentences. My explanations would help Japanese learners understand “ousama” more clearly. Then, let’s get started!
Contents
Definition and meaning of “ousama”
Let me start with the definition and meaning of “ousama”.
- ousama – 王様 (おうさま) : a noun meaning ‘king’ in Japanese. This can also work as plural. Learn more about Japanese plural.
Native speakers use this noun normally to refer to a king or kings in Japanese. Sometimes, however, they use this as a metaphor for someone at the top of a group. It’s also worth mentioning here that this noun often works like a pronoun to refer to a king and thus is not suitable as a title before or after his name.
The definition and meaning are simple and clear. To understand this noun more clearly, however, let me explain the kanji characters in detail, one by one.
What does “ousama” literally mean in Japanese?
The kanji expression of “ousama” consists of the following two kanji characters:
- 王 : a kanji character used to mean ‘king’ in Japanese.
- 様 : a kanji character widely used as a honorific suffix after a name in Japanese. This can be considered as the polite version of the most well-known honorific suffix, “san”.
These two kanji characters tell us that “ousama” is literally the polite expression for ‘king’. And actually, it is. The first kanji character which is pronounced “ou” can work alone to mean ‘king’ in Japanese, but native speakers often use it together with the honorific suffix to express their respect.
When we meet new kanji expressions, we should check their kanji characters in detail to understand their meanings clearly and deeply. In many cases, kanji characters tell us a lot about the meanings of the expressions they form. Actually, here, we could get the better understanding of “ousama” through the detailed kanji check above.
So far, I’ve explained the definition and meaning of “ousama” together with its kanji characters. Then, let me explain how to use it through the example sentences below.
Example #1: how to say “king” in Japanese
hime wa ousama no musume desu – 姫は王様の娘です (ひめはおうさまのむすめです)
A princess is a daughter of a king.
Below are the new words used in the example sentence.
- hime – 姫 (ひめ) : a noun meaning ‘princess’ in Japanese. This can also work as plural.
- wa – は : a binding particle working as a case marker or topic marker. In the example, this works after “hime” to make the subject in the sentence.
- no – の : a case particle used to join two nouns. Normally, the first one can work as a modifier to describe the second. In the example, this is used to join “ousama” and “musume”. The formed phrase literally means ‘a daughter of a king’ in Japanese. Word orders in Japanese and English are different, but the role of this case particle is similar to that of the English preposition, “of”.
- musume – 娘 (むすめ) : a noun meaning ‘daughter’ in Japanese. This can also work as plural.
- desu – です : an auxiliary verb used after a noun or adjective to make it polite. Probably, this is well known as a part of Japanese desu form. In the example, this is used after “ousama no musume” to make it sound polite.
This is a typical usage of “ousama”. In this example, it works as a part of the noun phrase, “ousama no musume”, which means ‘a daughter of a king’ in Japanese. When we want to mean ‘king’ in Japanese, anyway, this noun is a very good option.
Example #2: another usage of “ousama”
ouji ga ousama wo koroshi ta – 王子が王様を殺した (おうじがおうさまをころした)
The prince killed the king.
Below are the new words used in the example sentence.
- ouji – 王子 (おうじ) : a noun meaning ‘prince’ in Japanese. This can also work as plural.
- ga – が : a case particle used to make the subject word or the object word in a sentence. In the example, this is used after “ouji” to make the subject in the sentence.
- wo – を : a case particle used to make the object in a sentence. In the example, this is used after “ousama” to make the object in the sentence.
- koroshi – 殺し (ころし) : one conjugation of the verb, “korosu“, which means ‘to kill’ or ‘to murder’ in Japanese. In the example, it has been conjugated for the better connection with its following word.
- ta – た : an auxiliary verb used after a verb, adjective, or auxiliary verb to make its past tense form. Probably, this is well known as a part of Japanese ta form. In the example, this is used after “koroshi” to make its past tense form, “koroshi ta”.
This is another typical usage of “ousama”. In this example, it works together with the case particle, “wo”, to become the object in the sentence.
Summary
In this blog post, I’ve explained the definition and meaning of “ousama” in detail based on its kanji expression. And also, I’ve explained how to use it through the example sentences. Let me summarize them as follows.
- ousama – 王様 (おうさま) : a noun meaning ‘king’ in Japanese. This can also work as plural. Native speakers use this noun normally to refer to a king or kings in Japanese. Sometimes, however, they use this as a metaphor for someone at the top of a group. It’s also worth mentioning here that this noun often works like a pronoun to refer to a king and thus is not suitable as a title before or after his name.
Hope my explanations are understandable and helpful for Japanese learners.
