Translation guide
How to express 'put to sleep' in Japanese, covering literal sleep, euthanasia, and idiomatic uses.
To make a person or animal go to sleep, e.g., a child or pet.
Commonly used for putting a child or baby to sleep, implying soothing or lulling them.
It took an hour to put the baby to sleep.
General term for putting someone to bed or laying them down to sleep.
You should put the kids to sleep early.
To make someone sleep, often used in a more literal or medical sense.
They put the patient to sleep with medication.
To put an animal to death humanely, often by a veterinarian.
Standard term for euthanizing an animal, literally 'to give a peaceful death'.
We made the decision to put the old dog to sleep.
Used in administrative or shelter contexts for culling animals; can sound harsh.
This term can sound bureaucratic or insensitive in personal contexts.
To anesthetize a person or animal before a medical procedure.
To cause someone to fall asleep due to boredom, e.g., a dull lecture.
The English phrase 'put to sleep' is idiomatic. Direct translations like 寝るに置く (neru ni oku) are nonsensical. Always use the appropriate Japanese expression for the context.
寝かせる is simply laying someone down to sleep, while 寝かしつける implies active effort to soothe or lull, especially with children.
Many dogs are put to sleep at that facility.
歯医者で眠らせて治療してもらった。
I was put to sleep for treatment at the dentist.
The movie was so boring it put the audience to sleep.