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鉄板 (てっぱん) Japanese meaning | Kotomora

鉄てっ板ぱん

て

っ

ぱ

ん

Common word›Freq.FrequencyTop 10,000

Meanings

1

iron plate; steel plate

Literal meaning: a flat sheet of iron or steel, used in construction, cooking (teppanyaki), etc.

鉄てっ板ぱんの上うえで肉にくを焼やく。
Grill meat on an iron plate.

工こう場じょうで鉄てっ板ぱんを切せつ断だんする。

Cut steel plates at the factory.

2

sure thing; guaranteed success

Colloquial use, often in entertainment or business, meaning something is a guaranteed hit or safe bet. Frequently appears as 鉄板ネタ (guaranteed funny material) or 鉄板の組み合わせ (foolproof combination).

See also: 鉄板ネタ

この組くみ合あわせは鉄てっ板ぱんだよ。
This combination is a sure thing.
彼かれのギャグは鉄てっ板ぱんだ。
His jokes are guaranteed to get laughs.

Usage patterns

〈物もの〉を鉄てっ板ぱんで焼やくto grill/cook something on an iron plate
肉にくと野や菜さいを鉄てっ板ぱんで焼やいた。
I grilled meat and vegetables on the iron plate.
〈事こと〉は鉄てっ板ぱんだused to say something is a sure thing / guaranteed to work
このネタは絶ぜっ対たいに笑わらえる、鉄てっ板ぱんだよ。
This joke always gets laughs, it's a sure thing.
鉄てっ板ぱんを敷しくto lay down an iron/steel plate (e.g. at a construction site)
工こう事じ現げん場ばに鉄てっ板ぱんを敷しいて道どう路ろを保ほ護ごした。
They laid down steel plates at the construction site to protect the road.
鉄てっ板ぱんの〈物もの〉a guaranteed-to-succeed thing/combination
カレーとご飯はんは鉄てっ板ぱんの組くみ合あわせだ。
Curry and rice is a foolproof combination.

Kanji

鉄iron
板plank, board, plate

Related words

確かく実じつN3sense 2
確実 is a formal adjective meaning 'certain/reliable', while 鉄板 is a casual noun used for something guaranteed to succeed.
定てい番ばん sense 2
定番 describes a standard, tried-and-true choice (like a classic item), while 鉄板 emphasizes that something is a guaranteed success or hit.

Don't confuse with

天板てんぱん sense 1
天板 refers to a flat baking sheet or tabletop, while 鉄板 specifically means an iron/steel plate, often for cooking teppanyaki.
鋼こう板はん
鉄板 refers to a plate made of iron, while 鋼板 specifically denotes a plate made of steel (an iron-carbon alloy), so the two are easily confused despite the material difference.
鉄てっ片ぺんN1
鉄片 (small iron scraps) and 鉄板 (a flat iron plate/sheet) share the first kanji and both relate to iron but describe very different shapes and sizes of metal.

Counted with

枚まいN3
counter for thin, flat objects; sheet; plate; coin · serving of soba; portion of gyōza · sumo rank position; wrestler at a given rank · field; rice paddy plot · palanquin bearer

Word family

鉄てっ板ぱん焼やき
teppanyaki; dishes cooked on a hot steel plate
亜あ鉛えん鉄てっ板ぱん
galvanized sheet iron; galvanized sheet metal
鉄てっ板ぱんネタ
surefire joke; no-fail joke

Written forms

鉄てっ板ぱんUsage100%
Standard kanji spelling for both literal and colloquial senses.
テッパン
kana-only spelling
Katakana spelling is common for the colloquial 'sure thing' sense, especially in entertainment contexts.

Etymology

Compound of 鉄 (iron) and 板 (plate). The colloquial sense 'sure thing' likely derives from the idea of something being as solid and reliable as an iron plate.