Translation guide
The English word 'dressing' has several distinct meanings. This guide covers the most common ones for learners: salad dressing, the act of putting on clothes, medical dressings, and a few other uses.
A sauce for salads, often oil-based or creamy.
The most common and direct loanword for salad dressing. Used in everyday conversation and on product labels.
This dressing is very delicious.
A broader term for sauce, sometimes used for thicker or non-oil-based dressings, but less specific than ドレッシング.
A thick, sweet-savory sauce used in Japanese cooking, sometimes used for salads with grilled meat or specific Japanese-style salads. Not a direct equivalent of Western dressings.
The process or manner of getting dressed.
Refers to changing clothes or the act of getting dressed. Commonly used as a noun.
A protective covering for a wound.
General term for bandage or medical dressing. Used for wrapping wounds.
A mixture used to stuff poultry or vegetables.
General term for stuffing or filling in cooking. Can be used for turkey stuffing or stuffed vegetables.
Material applied to soil surface.
Top-dressing or additional fertilizer applied during plant growth.
Although ドレッシング can technically mean 'dressing' in the sense of putting on clothes, it is extremely rare and sounds unnatural. Use 着替え or a verb phrase like 服を着る instead.
It takes time to get dressed in the morning.
ドレッシング is specifically for salad dressings, usually oil-based or creamy. ソース is a broader term for sauces, including Worcestershire sauce, tonkatsu sauce, etc. たれ is a thick, sweet-savory sauce used for grilled meats and sometimes salads. For Western-style salads, stick with ドレッシング.
Please put dressing on the salad.
A Japanese-style sauce goes well with this salad.
I put sesame sauce on the grilled meat salad.
It takes time to get dressed in the morning.
A literal phrase meaning 'the act of putting on clothes'. More descriptive than 着替え.
It's hard for small children to learn dressing themselves.
The loanword ドレッシング can also mean 'dressing' in the sense of putting on clothes, but this usage is rare and mostly found in fashion contexts or as a direct translation. Not recommended for everyday use.
Please change in the dressing room.
Please put a dressing on the wound.
Specifically refers to gauze, often used as a dressing. More precise than 包帯 when referring to the material.
Apply gauze to the wound and secure it with tape.
Adhesive bandage (like Band-Aid). Used for small cuts, not large dressings.
For a small cut, put on a bandage.
We roast the turkey with dressing.
Loanword from English 'stuffing', used in recipes and Western food contexts.
We make stuffing for Thanksgiving.
野菜に追肥をやりました。
I applied dressing to the vegetables.
Technical term for surface fertilization. Less common in everyday language.
Surface dressing is a method of spreading fertilizer on the soil surface.