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煉瓦 (れんが) Japanese meaning | Kotomora

煉れん瓦が

れ

ん

が

Common wordJLPTN2Freq.FrequencyTop 20,000

Meanings

1

noun

usually written using kana alone

Refers to the building material; commonly used in compounds like 煉瓦造り (brick construction) or 煉瓦色 (brick red).

この建たて物ものはレンガでできている。
This building is made of brick.
庭にわにレンガを敷しいて小こ道みち

を

作つく

っ

た

。

I laid bricks in the garden to make a path.

Written forms

煉れん瓦がUsage38%
Standard kanji spelling, though the word is usually written in kana.
レンガUsage54%
kana-only spelling
Katakana spelling is very common and often preferred in everyday writing.
れんがUsage8%
Hiragana spelling is also used, though katakana is more typical for this word.

Kanji

煉refine metals, kneading over fire
瓦tile, gram

Similar words

ブロック
ブロック refers to concrete blocks or larger building blocks, while レンガ specifically means clay bricks.
タイル
タイル is a tile, typically thinner and used for surfaces like floors or walls, whereas レンガ is a thicker structural brick.

Etymology

The kanji 煉瓦 are ateji (phonetic equivalents) for the word れんが, which is believed to have been borrowed from Portuguese 'lenga' or Dutch 'klinkaerd', though the exact derivation is uncertain.