いちごミルク
ichigo miruku
The English phrase "strawberry milk" is いちごミルク (ichigo miruku) in Japanese.
いちごミルク refers to a beverage made by mixing milk with strawberry syrup or puree.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of いちご (ichigo), which means strawberry and ミルク (miruku), which is the katakana loanword for milk.
Which one should you use?
The phrase can be written as いちごミルク using hiragana, or as 苺ミルク by using the kanji for strawberry (苺) instead of hiragana.
How does it change in a sentence?
In Japanese, the noun describing the flavor, いちご, is placed directly before the noun for the base liquid, ミルク, without a particle between them.
How do you pronounce it?
ichigo miruku
Did you know?
- Strawberry milk is a popular 'comfort drink' in Japanese anime and manga, often used as a visual cue to signal that a character is innocent, childlike or sweet.
- While いちごミルク is the standard term, you will often see it listed as ストロベリーミルク (sutoroberī miruku) on fancy cafe menus to give the drink a more Western or sophisticated feel.
- The kanji for strawberry 苺 is composed of the radical for 'grass' on top and a phonetic component below, reflecting how the plant grows low to the ground.
Examples in context
- 次は、苺味のミルクをお願いします。Next, please bring me milk with strawberry flavor.
- ストロベリーミルクって美味しいよね。Strawberry milk is delicious, right?
- いちごミルクを飲みます。ichigo miruku o nomimasu.I drink strawberry milk.
- いちごミルクはとても甘いです。ichigo miruku wa totemo amai desu.The strawberry milk is very sweet.
- コンビニでいちごミルクを買いました。konbini de ichigo miruku o kaimashita.I bought strawberry milk at the convenience store.
Example conversation
Kenta and Yui are choosing drinks at a cafe.
- 健太 Kenta結衣は何を飲みますか？Yui wa nani o nomimasu ka?What will you drink, Yui?
- 結衣 Yuiいちごミルクにします。ichigo miruku ni shimasu.I will have the strawberry milk.
- 健太 Kentaおいしそうですね。oishisou desu ne.That looks delicious.
- 結衣 Yui健太さんもいかがですか？Kenta-san mo ikaga desu ka?Would you like some too, Kenta?
