竜 – Japanese Words for Dragon
Dragons are popular mythical creatures all over the world. Japan is no exception. So, how do you say dragon in Japanese? Well, there are actually three different Japanese words for dragon you could use. Let’s take a look.
Table of Contents
竜・龍 – Ryu
The first word and most common is ryu. You can write this in Kanji as 竜 or 龍. This word originates from the Onyomi reading of the character 龍.
The second Kanji 竜 is a simplified version of the first one.
竜・龍 – Tatsu
Second, we have the word tatsu. This can be written using the same Kanji characters as ryu. This word is in the kunyomi reading of the Kanji and is the original Japanese word for dragon.
ドラゴン – Doragon
Finally, we have the word doragon. You guessed it, this originates from the English word, dragon. In everyday speech people don’t talk about dragons with this word. It is more used in titles, for brand names, names of teams, and so on. For example the Japanese game Dragon Quest is ドラゴン・クエスト in Japanese
