Translation guide
How to express the idea of skipping or missing a meal in Japanese, including common verbs, phrases, and contextual strategies.
I skipped breakfast.
I was so busy I ended up skipping lunch.
More casual than 食事を抜く. Often used in spoken Japanese.
I skipped dinner yesterday.
Simply saying 'I didn't eat [meal]'. Very straightforward and natural.
I didn't eat anything this morning.
I didn't eat lunch.
A slightly more colloquial or dialectal variant of 抜く. Less common in standard Japanese.
I skipped lunch.
To explain that you couldn't eat a meal because of an external reason (e.g., no food, no time, illness).
Literally 'cannot take a meal'. Implies inability due to circumstances.
I was so busy I couldn't have lunch.
Means 'to miss the chance to eat'. Often used when you intended to eat but couldn't.
I overslept and missed breakfast.
Simply 'cannot eat'. Can be used for various reasons (no appetite, no time, etc.).
My stomach hurt and I couldn't eat lunch.
To describe a state of not eating for a while, often with a nuance of endurance or fasting.
Both mean 'to skip', but 抜かす is more colloquial and can sound rough or dialectal. 抜く is standard and safe for most situations.
Avoid directly translating 'miss a meal' as 食事を逃す (しょくじをのがす). This sounds unnatural. Use 抜く or 食べない instead.
検査の前に絶食してください。
Please fast before the examination.