カレー

also: カリー

カ

レ

ー

Common wordJLPTN5Freq.FrequencyTop 5,000

Meanings

noun

curry; Japanese curry

food / cooking

Refers to the dish itself, typically a thick curry sauce served with rice, often containing meat and vegetables. In Japan, 'カレー' usually implies Japanese-style curry unless specified otherwise.

今こん夜やの夕ゆう食しょくはカレーにしよう。
Let's have curry for dinner tonight.
この店みせのカレーはスパイスが効きいていて美味おいしい。
The curry at this restaurant is delicious with a good kick of spices.

noun

curry and rice; curry rice

abbreviationfood / cooking

Abbreviation of カレーライス. In everyday conversation, カレー alone often implies the rice dish. This sense makes that usage explicit.

Usage patterns

カレーが辛からいthe curry is spicy
このカレーはすごく辛からい。
This curry is really spicy.
カレーの匂においがするto smell of curry
家いえの中なかでカレーの匂においがする。
There's a smell of curry inside the house.
〈物もの〉にカレーをかけるto pour curry over something (e.g. rice)
ご飯はんにカレーをかけて食たべた。
I poured curry over the rice and ate it.

Kanji

咖coffee
哩mile

Related words

カレーライスN5sense 2
カレーライス explicitly names the curry-and-rice dish, while カレー is the shorter, everyday word that usually implies the same thing.

Don't confuse with

シチュー sense 1
シチュー is a mild, cream- or broth-based stew without curry spices, whereas カレー is specifically flavored with curry powder and spices.
ハヤシライス sense 1
ハヤシライス is a beef-and-onion dish in a demi-glace sauce that looks similar served over rice, but it has no curry spice unlike カレー.

Written forms

カレーUsage97%
Standard katakana spelling for curry; the most common written form.
カリーUsage3%
rarely-used kana form
Rarely used kana form; learners may encounter it in older texts or as a stylistic variant.

Etymology

Borrowed from English 'curry', ultimately from Tamil 'kari'. The spelling カレー reflects the long vowel in the English pronunciation.