Usage patterns 劇げき を 上じょう 演えん する to stage or put on a play
The theater troupe will stage a new play next month.
劇げき に 出しゅつ 演えん する to perform or appear in a play
She performed in the school play.
〈 場ば 所しょ 〉 で 劇げき を 見み る to watch a play at a place
I watched a play at the theater.
Related words 演劇 refers broadly to theatre as an art form, while 劇 usually denotes a specific play or performance.
芝居 is a more colloquial, traditional word for a stage play, while 劇 is the more formal, written term used in compounds like 劇団 and 劇場 .
劇 usually means a stage play performed live, whereas ドラマ is typically broadcast on TV.
Word family· 86 theatre; playhouse
tragedy; tragic drama · tragedy; disaster; calamity
drama; theatre; play
theatre troupe; theatrical company; acting company
dramatic; striking; thrilling · extreme; drastic; intense
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opera
tragedy; tragic event
theatre-going; attending a play
action film; action movie; action drama · riotous scene; fight scene
short play; skit
powerful drug; potent medicine; strong poison
shingeki; new drama; modern Japanese theater
Beijing opera; classical Chinese opera
feature film; drama film
stage play; theatrical play
gekiga; dramatic pictures · kamishibai; paper theater
traditional Japanese theater; classical drama · period drama (film)
playwriting; dramaturgy
swordplay drama; samurai drama
during a play; in the play; within the drama
background music for a film, TV drama, etc.
playwriting; drama writing
powerful medicine; violent poison
dramatization; adaptation for stage/screen
theatrical world; the stage
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Written forms 劇げき Usage 99%
Standard kanji form; high-frequency word.
げき Usage 1%
Etymology From Middle Chinese 劇 (gjek), meaning 'drama' or 'intense'. The abbreviation sense derives from 劇薬 (powerful drug), where 劇 carries the meaning 'violent' or 'strong'.
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