Translation guide
The English word "field" covers many distinct concepts. This guide breaks them down into practical meanings and shows how to express each naturally in Japanese.
A piece of open land, especially for farming or sports.
Refers to a cultivated field for crops like vegetables or grains. Not for rice paddies.
彼は畑で野菜を育てている。
He grows vegetables in the field.
Specifically a rice paddy field. Very common in rural Japan.
田んぼに水を引く。
They irrigate the rice fields.
An open field or meadow, often uncultivated, with grass and wildflowers.
子供たちが野原で遊んでいる。
The children are playing in the field.
A sports ground or field, like a baseball field or school playground.
野球のグラウンドで練習する。
They practice on the baseball field.
Often used in place names or literary contexts for a plain or field.
春の原を歩く。
Walk through the spring fields.
A particular branch of study or sphere of activity.
The most common and versatile word for an academic or professional field.
彼は物理学の分野で有名だ。
He is famous in the field of physics.
Often used for a domain or area of knowledge, slightly more formal than 分野.
Means one's specialty or major field. Often used for personal expertise.
Refers to an industry or business field.
A place where practical work is done, away from the office or lab.
The actual site of work, like a construction site or crime scene. Also used for on-site work.
彼は現場で働くのが好きだ。
He likes working in the field.
Loanword from English, often used in research contexts like fieldwork.
A space in a form or database for entering data.
Standard term for a blank space or column in a form.
名前の欄に記入してください。
Please fill in the name field.
Used in IT contexts for database fields.
The area visible or covered by something.
A region in which a force (magnetic, electric, gravitational) operates.
Magnetic field.
地球の磁場は北極と南極にある。
The Earth's magnetic field is at the North and South Poles.
Electric field.
General term for field in physics.
重力場の理論を研究する。
Study the theory of gravitational fields.
All the competitors or horses in a race.
The field of horses in a race. Used in horse racing.
出走馬は全部で12頭だ。
The field consists of 12 horses.
All participants, can be used for a field of competitors in general.
マラソンの参加者全員がスタートした。
The entire field of marathon runners started.
The background of a picture, flag, or coat of arms.
Background color or surface. Often used in design.
白地に赤い丸が日本の国旗です。
A red circle on a white field is the Japanese flag.
General background, can be used for a field in art.
The English word "field" is very broad. Do not assume a single Japanese word covers all meanings. Always choose based on the specific context.
畑 (hatake) is for dry fields (vegetables, wheat), while 田んぼ (tanbo) is for flooded rice paddies. Using the wrong one can cause confusion.
彼は自分の分野の専門家だ。
He is an expert in his field.
子供たちは野原を走り抜けた。
The children ran across the field.
この研究は新しい領域を開拓した。
This research opened up a new field.
私の専門は経済学です。
My field is economics.
IT業界で働いている。
I work in the IT field.
フィールドワークでデータを集める。
Collect data through field work.
このフィールドには数字を入力してください。
Please enter a number in this field.
This camera has a wide field of view.
Measure the strength of the electric field.
絵の背景に青い空を描いた。
I painted a blue sky in the field of the picture.