Translation guide
A pickaxe is a tool with a pointed end and a flat blade, used for breaking up hard ground or rocks. In Japanese, the most common equivalent is つるはし, but other terms exist depending on shape and use.
The standard tool with a pointed end and a flat blade, used for digging or breaking rocks.
The most common and general term for a pickaxe. Often written in hiragana, but can be written as 鶴嘴.
つるはしで固い地面を掘った。
I dug up the hard ground with a pickaxe.
Loanword from German 'Pickel', often used for ice axes or mountaineering pickaxes. Can also refer to a regular pickaxe in some contexts.
登山用のピッケルを買った。
I bought a mountaineering ice axe.
Kanji form of つるはし, rarely used in modern writing. Literally 'crane's beak'.
鶴嘴は重い道具だ。
A pickaxe is a heavy tool.
A pickaxe specifically used in mining, often with a longer handle and heavier head.
Literally 'mining pickaxe'. Specifies the tool's purpose.
坑夫は採掘用つるはしで石炭を掘った。
The miner dug coal with a mining pickaxe.
Loanword from English 'pick', often used in gaming or technical contexts for a pickaxe.
マインクラフトでダイヤのピックを作った。
I made a diamond pickaxe in Minecraft.
つるはし is the standard Japanese word for a pickaxe used in construction or gardening. ピッケル is a loanword often associated with ice axes or mountaineering, but can also mean a pickaxe in some contexts. Use つるはし unless you specifically mean an ice axe or are in a gaming context where ピック is common.
庭の石を取り除くためにつるはしを使った。
I used a pickaxe to remove rocks in the garden.
雪山ではピッケルが必要だ。
You need an ice axe in snowy mountains.
彼はつるはしでコンクリートを壊した。
He broke the concrete with a pickaxe.
そのつるはしは重い。
The pickaxe is heavy.