In this vocabulary lesson, you will learn how to say “butterfly” in Japanese. Since the Japanese language has a couple of words for “butterfly“, I want to go over the 5 most common ones and tell you their meaning, translation, as well as their kanji. Let’s start with the most common words.
The two commonly used words to say butterfly in Japanese are “chou” (蝶) and “chouchou” (蝶々). Both words can be used interchangeably to talk about the animal and have exactly the same meaning. However, there are also English and French loanwords that are sometimes used in Japanese.
Read on, if you want to get to know all the 5 words that can be used to say butterfly in Japanese including the two loanwords I just briefly mentioned. After that, you can also learn the word for “swallowtail butterfly” and how to say things like “black butterfly” and “flower and butterfly” in Japanese.
How to Say “Butterfly” in Japanese
- chou – 蝶
- chouchou – 蝶々
- kochou – 蝴蝶 or 胡蝶
- papiyon – パピヨン
- batafurai – バタフライ
1. Chou – Basic Way to Say “Butterfly” in Japanese
Chou (蝶) is the most basic and probably the easiest Japanese word for “butterfly“. You can use the word whenever you want to talk about or refer to the animal in Japanese. While “chou” is commonly written in kanji, it can also be written in katakana only as チョウ.
chou
蝶
butterfly
Here is a song named 蝶 (chou) by the famous Japanese rock band Acid Black Cherry. You can hear the word for butterfly a few times during the song.
2. Chouchou – Most Common Word for “Butterfly”
Chouchou (蝶々) also means “butterfly” in Japanese and judging from my personal experience it seems to be more commonly used in daily conversations than “chou“. I tried to find out the difference between the two words, but didn’t get a definite answer, so I think you can use them interchangeably.
chouchou
蝶々
butterfly
Here is another song from one of my favorite Japanese bands with the title 蝶々 (chouchou). In the song they use the word “chouchou“, but written as 蝶 for butterfly and the word “ga” (蛾), which is the Japanese word for “moth“.
3. Kochou – Arachic Word That Translates as “Butterfly”
In the past, the word kochou (蝴蝶) was commonly used to say “butterfly” in Japanese. However, nowadays it is rarely used and some Japanese might even not understand what you are talking about. There are two ways to write the word in kanji 蝴蝶 and 胡蝶. The latter is sometimes used as a name.
kochou
蝴蝶
butterfly
4. Papiyon – French Loanword Meaning “Butterfly”
Papiyon (パピヨン) is a loanword and comes from the French word for butterfly which is “papillon“. In Japanese, it can be used to say “butterfly“, but it can also be used when referring to the Papillon, a certain dog breed also known as Continental Toy Spaniel (source).
papiyon
パピヨン
butterfly
papillon (dog breed)
5. Batafurai – English Loanword Meaning “Butterfly”
The English loanword that is sometimes used to say “butterfly” in Japanese is Batafurai (バタフライ). Similar like doggu (ドッグ), which can be used to say “dog” in Japanese, or kyatto (キャット), one of the words for “cat” in Japanese, it is rather rarely used in daily life to talk about the animal.
batafurai
バタフライ
butterfly
Advanced Words that Mean “Butterfly” in Japanese
- ageha chou – アゲハチョウ
- kuroi chou – 黒い蝶
- batafurai naifu – バタフライナイフ
- hana to chou – 花と蝶
Swallowtail Butterfly – Ageha Chou
Ageha chou (アゲハチョウ) means “swallowtail butterfly” in Japanese. In kanji the word can be written as 揚羽蝶 (ageha chou) or as 鳳蝶 (ageha chou), but it is often written in katakana only. The shortened version ageha (揚羽) can also be used to say “swallowtail butterfly” in Japanese.
ageha chou
アゲハチョウ
揚羽蝶
鳳蝶
swallowtail butterflyageha
揚羽
swallowtail butterfly
In case you know a lot about butterflies, the word is especially used to refer to the citrus swallowtail butterfly, which is also known as “Papilio xuthus“.
Black Butterfly – Kuroi Chou
Kuroi chou (黒い蝶) means “black butterfly” in Japanese. The first word kuroi (黒い) means “black“, and the second word chou (蝶) is the word for “butterfly” as we have discussed before. However, you can also use the expression burakku batafurai (ブラックバタフライ) in Japanese to say “black butterfly“.
kuroi chou
黒い蝶
black butterflyburakku batafurai
ブラックバタフライ
black butterfly
One of the most beautiful butterflies in Japan is the bluish black “Alpine Black Swallowtail” or “Papilio Maackii” by the way. Its Japanese name is Miyama-Karasuageha (ミヤマカラスアゲハ). It is a really beautiful big butterfly! And, “karasu” (カラス) is the Japanese word for “crow” or “raven“.
Butterfly Knife – Batafurai Naifu
Batafurai Naifu (バタフライナイフ) is how you say “butterfly knife” in Japanese. It consists of two English loanwords. The first one “batafurai” is, of course, the word for “butterfly” and the second one “naifu” is the word for “knife“. I just included this word, because some of you asked me about it.
batafurai naifu
バタフライナイフ
butterfly knife
Flower and Buttefly – Hana to Chou
If you want to say “flower and butterfly” in Japanese you can use the expression hana to chou (花と蝶). Hana (花) is the word for “flower” in Japanese. To (と) is a so-called particle that translates as “and” and is used to connect nouns. And then, we have the Japanese word for butterfly which is chou (蝶), of course.
hana to chou
花と蝶
flower and butterfly
“Flower & Butterfly” is a really beautiful pop song by the Japanese singer and songwriter Fujita Maiko (藤田麻衣子) by the way.