二十五
nijūgo[ɲ̟iʑɨːɡo̞]
The Japanese word for twenty-five is 二十五 (nijūgo).
二十五 is the number twenty-five.
Meaning: twenty-five (num)
What does it mean word for word?
The number is composed of the characters for twenty (二十) and five (五).
How do you pronounce it?
nijūgo
Did you know?
- If you were to write 二十五 in a formal banking or legal document, you would use much more complex characters called 'daiji'. This prevents people from fraudulently changing a single stroke to turn your 'two' or 'five' into a different number.
- In many Japanese counting contexts, you cannot simply say 二十五 if you are counting objects like small animals or items. You would need to add a counter, such as 二十五匹 (nijūgo-hiki) for small animals, to make the number grammatically natural.
- In the context of certain traditional Japanese games or gambling, numbers like 二十五 might be referred to using different reading systems, such as the 'on-yomi' readings derived from Chinese, rather than the standard native-influenced counting.
Examples in context
- 二十五歳です。nijūgo-sai desu.I am twenty-five years old.
- 二十五枚あります。nijūgo-mai arimasu.There are twenty-five pieces.
- 二十五分待ってください。nijūgo-fun matte kudasai.Please wait twenty-five minutes.
Example conversation
Ren asks Misaki how many items are in the box.
- 蓮 Ren美咲さん、箱の中に何個ありますか？Misaki-san, hako no naka ni nanko arimasu ka?Misaki, how many items are in the box?
- 美咲 Misaki二十五個入っていますよ。nijūgo-ko haitte imasu yo.There are twenty-five items inside.
- 蓮 Ren二十五個ですか。多いですね。nijūgo-ko desu ka. Ōi desu ne.Twenty-five? That is a lot.
- 美咲 Misakiはい、たくさんあります。Hai, takusan arimasu.Yes, there are many.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “twenty-five” translations and entries 二十五, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
