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November 14, 2022

The Planets in Japanese

* Out of respect for Mickey's friends, Pluto is included in this list


Makoto+ Members, click here to download all the sound files and an Anki flashcard deck just for this lesson. Practice makes perfect!


The shortcut for remembering the planets in Japanese is:

A few points:

  • Each planet (except for Earth) ends with (せい) which means planet. The stand-alone kun reading for “planet” is 「ほし」.
  • Like the days of the week in Japanese, the first few planets (except earth) use the elements water, gold, fire, wood, and dirt.
  • The last three planets (if you deny Pluto its planet-ship, then the last two planets…), are king planets 王星(おうせい).
  • Mouse over or tap any kanji to see the furigana.

水星(すいせい)

Mercury

It’s the closest to the Sun, but despite the name, there is no water (みず).

金星(きんせい)

Venus

Venus shines in the sky like gold (きん).

地球(ちきゅう)

Earth

If you are  reading this, chances are you are a 地球人(ちきゅうじん) (earthling).

火星(かせい)

Mars

The Martians try to destroy earth with fire 火.

木星(もくせい)

Jupiter

Think of the Redwood forest with the huge trees (もく) (the normal kun reading is 「き」.

土星(どせい)

Saturn

In English, “Saturn” starts with "Satur". In Japanese, the first kanji is also the same as the day of the week: 土曜日(どようび)

or

天王星(てんのうせい)

Uranus

You say "Your highness" before the king of heaven (てん).

or

海王星(かいおうせい)

Neptune

Neptune was the king of the sea (かい) (the normal kun reading is 「うみ」.

冥王星(めいおうせい)

Pluto

Pluto was the god of the underworld or Hades. In Japanese, Hades is called 冥界(めいかい).


Other Related Vocabulary

太陽(たいよう)

the Sun


宇宙(うちゅう)

Outer space; the universe


天文学(てんもんがく)

astronomy


惑星(わくせい)

planet
[notice, it has the same kanji as most of the planet names]


(あま)(がわ)

The Milky Way
[This has two somewhat irregular readings. Remember it is 「あま」 and not 「てん」 and the river is 「がわ」]


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And here is a quick recap chart:

水星(すいせい)

すいせい
Mercury
Closest to the Sun so there is no water

金星(きんせい)

きんせい
Venus
Venus shines in the sky like gold

地球(ちきゅう)

ちきゅう
Earth
You are a 地球人(ちきゅうじん)

火星(かせい)

かせい
Mars
The Martians try to destroy earth with fire

木星(もくせい)

もくせい
Jupiter
Think of the Redwood forest with the huge trees

土星(どせい)

どせい
Saturn
Saturn starts with "Satur"' just like Saturday (土曜日(どようび))

天王星(てんのうせい)

てんのうせい
Uranus
You say "Your highness" before the king

海王星(かいおうせい)

かいおうせい
Neptune
Neptune was the king of the sea ((かい))

冥王星(めいおうせい)

めいおうせい
Pluto
Pluto, the god of the underworld or hades, is called 冥界(めいかい)in Japanese


This video is very old and the audio is choppy. We redid it with the video above, but I'll leave it here just for nostalgia. If you can't get through it, the information is above. 

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      • It’s the んの that’s the issue. Technically, it should be “tennousei”. Unfortunately, I don’t have a way to fix the video, but it’s best to not rely on romaji anyway.

        But this is a little tricky. Normally 王 is おう, but often, for ease of speech, when a ん is followed by an お, it becomes んの as in Uranus.

        I’ll have to look this up more and make a lesson out of it. The only other word that comes to mind is the (Christian) Trinity: 三位一体【さんみいったい】. It ought to be 「さんい」 but when a vowel follows a ん, it often adds a consonant (“n” or “m,” as in this case). I’m sure there are many more examples of this.

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