肝かん臓ぞう

か

ん

ぞ

う

Common wordJLPTN1Freq.FrequencyTop 10,000

Meanings

noun

liver

anatomy

The anatomical organ. Used in medical, biological, and everyday contexts.

肝かん臓ぞうは体たい内ないで最もっとも大おおきな臓ぞう器きの一ひとつです。
The liver is one of the largest organs in the body.
お酒さけを飲のみすぎると肝かん臓ぞうに負ふ担たんがかかります。
Drinking too much alcohol puts a strain on the liver.

See all 92 example sentences ›

Usage patterns

肝かん臓ぞうが悪わるいto have a bad/unhealthy liver
父ちちは肝かん臓ぞうが悪わるくて、お酒さけを控ひかえている。
My father has a bad liver, so he's cutting back on alcohol.
肝かん臓ぞうを壊こわすto damage one's liver
お酒さけを飲のみすぎると肝かん臓ぞうを壊こわすよ。
If you drink too much, you'll damage your liver.
肝かん臓ぞうの機き能のうが低てい下かするfor liver function to decline
検けん査さの結けっ果か、肝かん臓ぞうの機き能のうが低てい下かしていることが分わかった。
The test results showed that his liver function had declined.
肝かん臓ぞうに脂し肪ぼうがつくfor fat to build up in the liver (fatty liver)
食たべ過すぎが続つづくと肝かん臓ぞうに脂し肪ぼうがつきやすくなる。
Overeating regularly makes fat build up in the liver more easily.

Kanji

肝liver, pluck, nerve
臓entrails, viscera, bowels

Related words

レバーN1
レバー refers to liver as a food item (as in レバニラ), while 肝臓 is the formal, anatomical term for the organ itself.
肝きもN1
肝 is a colloquial word that can mean liver (especially as food) or courage/guts, whereas 肝臓 is the precise medical term for the organ.

Don't confuse with

肝かん炎えん
肝臓 is the liver organ itself, whereas 肝炎 is the disease (inflammation) that can affect it, and the words are easy to mix up because they share the kanji 肝.
腎じん臓ぞう
腎臓 refers to the kidney, while 肝臓 refers to the liver; both share the 臓 (internal organ) suffix, making them easy to mix up.
レバーN1
肝臓 is the clinical, anatomical term for the liver organ, while レバー refers to liver only as a food ingredient, so they are not interchangeable in a medical context.
心しん臓ぞうN3
心臓 refers to the heart, whereas 肝臓 refers to the liver; both share the kanji 臓 and are often confused as organ names.

Word family

肝かん臓ぞう炎えん
hepatitis
肝かん臓ぞう病びょう
liver disease; hepatic disorder
カンゾウタケ
beefsteak fungus; beefsteak mushroom
肝かん臓ぞうがん
liver cancer
肝かん臓ぞう移い植しょく
liver transplantation

Written forms

肝かん臓ぞうUsage99%
Standard kanji spelling for the anatomical organ.
かんぞうUsage1%

Etymology

Compound of 肝 (kan, 'liver') and 臓 (zō, 'internal organ'). The kanji 肝 is a phono-semantic compound with 月 (flesh) and 干 (kan, phonetic), while 臓 combines 月 (flesh) and 藏 (store).