怪獣

See also: 怪獸 and 怪兽

Japanese

Kanji in this term
怪	獣
かい Grade: S	じゅう Grade: S
kan'on	kan'yōon

Alternative spelling
怪獸 (kyūjitai)

Etymology

怪(かい) (kai, “mysterious”) + 獣(じゅう) (jū, “beast”)

Comparable terms in other languages: Swedish vidunder, odjur

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ka̠iʑɨː]
• (Tokyo) かいじゅう [kàíjúú] (Heiban – [0])

Noun

怪(かい)獣(じゅう) • (kaijū) ^{←くわいじう (kwaiziu)?}

1. (large, mystical) monstrous beast

   Hypernym: 怪物

   1. movie monster

      Hyponym: 大怪獣 (daikaijū)

      1. kaiju: giant movie monster, including robots and mecha

         Synonym: 大怪獣 (daikaijū)

   2. cryptid

Derived terms

• 大怪獣 (daikaijū)
  • 大怪獣映画 (daikaijū eiga)
• 怪獣映画 (kaijū eiga)

Descendants

• → English: kaiju (from 大怪獣)
• → Korean: 괴수 (goesu) (via Middle Chinese)

References

• “怪獣”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[1] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2026