How to Say "Genre" in Japanese

ジャンル

janru[d͡ʑã̠n̺ɾɯ̟]

The Japanese word for genre is ジャンル (janru).

ジャンル is used broadly to categorize music, literature, movies and other artistic categories.

Meaning: kind, type, sort (noun)

What does it mean word for word?

ジャンル is a loanword from French and is written in Katakana.

janru

When describing a person's overall style, fashion sense or vibe, Japanese speakers often use the suffix 系 (kei) instead of ジャンル. For example, ギャル系 describes someone in the 'gal' style.
While ジャンル is common for art, Japanese uses the native word 種類 (shurui) for almost all other types of things, such as 'kinds' of food or 'types' of products.
In formal academic settings, Japanese writers often avoid ジャンル in favor of 分野 (bun'ya). While both relate to categories, 分野 refers to a professional 'field' of study rather than an artistic 'genre'.

歴史小説はとても人気の高いジャンルでした。
The historical novel was a very popular genre.
This sentence shows how to use ジャンル when discussing the popularity of a specific type of literature.
Tatoeba #3555742 by arnab, translation #3134443 by Objectivesea
その映画はどのジャンルですか？
What genre does that movie belong to?
この本はどの部類に分類されますか？
Into which category does this book fall?
好きな音楽のジャンルは何ですか？
suki na ongaku no janru wa nan desu ka?
What is your favorite genre of music?
この映画は、ホラーというジャンルです。
kono eiga wa, horā to iu janru desu.
This movie is the horror genre.

Misaki and Kenta are talking about books at a library.

美咲 Misaki

健太さんは、どんなジャンルの本を読みますか？
Kenta-san wa, donna janru no hon o yomimasu ka?
Kenta, what genre of books do you read?
健太 Kenta

僕はミステリーのジャンルが一番好きです。
Boku wa misuterii no janru ga ichiban suki desu.
I like the mystery genre the most.
美咲 Misaki

そうなんですね。私もミステリーは好きです。
Sō nan desu ne. Watashi mo misuterii wa suki desu.
I see. I like mysteries too.
健太 Kenta

おすすめの本を教えますね。
Osusume no hon o oshiemasu ne.
I will tell you about some recommended books.

Sources

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