Translation guide
The English word 'bed' can refer to furniture for sleeping, a garden plot, a river bottom, or a layer of material. This guide covers the most common Japanese expressions for each meaning, focusing on natural usage for learners.
The physical object (frame, mattress, futon) used for sleeping.
Standard word for a Western-style bed with a frame and mattress. Most common in modern Japanese homes and hotels.
I bought a new bed.
I like sleeping in a bed.
Formal or literary term for a bed or sleeping platform. Often used in contexts like hospital beds or train berths.
The hospital bed is a bit hard.
Traditional Japanese bedding laid on the floor. Often translated as 'futon' in English, but in Japanese it refers to the whole set (mattress and quilt). Use this when referring to a Japanese-style sleeping arrangement.
I lay out the futon and sleep.
I fold up the futon and put it in the closet.
A prepared area in a garden for planting flowers or vegetables.
The ground at the bottom of a river, lake, or sea.
A layer of material that something rests on or is embedded in.
General word for layer or stratum. Used in geology, cooking, etc.
A bed of coal was found.
Put a layer of vegetables on top of the rice.
Used as a suffix or prefix to indicate something spread or laid down, like a bed of straw or gravel.
ベッド is a Western-style bed (frame + mattress), while 布団 is traditional Japanese bedding laid directly on the floor. Use ベッド for hotel beds, 布団 for ryokan or home tatami rooms.
The hotel has beds.
At a ryokan, you sleep on a futon.
The English 'flower bed' is not フラワーベッド. Use 花壇 (かだん) instead. ベッド only refers to sleeping furniture.
I planted flowers in the flower bed.
I sowed vegetable seeds in the raised bed.
海底に沈んだ船があります。
There is a sunken ship on the seabed.
They are investigating the mud on the lakebed.
I walked on a gravel bed path.