The Meaning of isu [椅子] In Japanese

椅子
いす
Romaji: isu N5

What does 椅子 mean?

Translation and Meaning

chair, seat

Definition

椅子 (isu) means a single-person piece of furniture raised off the floor, typically with a backrest, designed to provide a supported place to sit; it refers to standalone seating commonly found in homes, offices, classrooms, restaurants and public spaces.

Type

noun (名詞)

Stroke Order

Meanings

  • Physical elevated seat distinguished from floor seating or cushions, often movable and used for individual sitting.
  • Metonymic use referring to someone’s place or allotted spot within a group or event (a figurative ‘seat’ or position).
  • Product-category sense in commerce and reviews, used to group types (e.g., dining chairs, office chairs) rather than a single unit.

Etymology

椅子 (isu) is a Sino-Japanese compound whose characters and basic sense were adopted from Classical Chinese compounds for seating; the form and pronunciation were integrated into Japanese through historical borrowing and phonological adaptation, producing the modern spoken form isu.

Origin

Traditional Japanese living centered on tatami and low-floor seating, so elevated chairs were uncommon historically; raised chairs became widely adopted in Japan during the late 19th-century Meiji modernization and subsequent industrialization as Western furniture styles and mass-produced seating entered homes, schools, offices and public buildings.

Composition

  • 椅子 (isu): 椅 contains the 木 (wood/tree) radical suggesting a wooden object and a phonetic/semantic element tied to support or leaning; 子 is a common suffix that forms concrete nouns. Together the characters convey the idea of a supported object for sitting.

Usage

Used in everyday and formal contexts to refer to seating in homes, offices, classrooms, restaurants and public facilities; appears in product descriptions, furniture catalogs, signage and service instructions, and is used with counters or qualifiers when specifying quantity, style, or placement within a room or venue.
💡 Tips
Visualize the 木 (tree) radical as the wooden legs and seat frame and remember the sound isu like “I’s seat” — picture yourself sitting to lock the word in memory.

Variations

  • 座席 (zaseki) — seat (allocated seat in transport or venues)
  • イス (isu) — katakana form often used in advertising or catalogues
  • ベンチ (benchi) — bench (long seat for multiple people)
  • 座布団 (zabuton) — floor cushion (contrasts with raised seating)

Example Phrases

  • この椅子は座り心地がいい。
    Kono isu wa suwari gokochi ga ii.
    This chair is comfortable to sit on.
    Lista:
    • この (kono) – this
    • 椅子 (isu) – chair
    • は (wa) – topic marker
    • 座り心地 (sari gokochi) – sitting comfort
    • が (ga) – subject marker
    • いい (ii) – good
    In this sentence, 「心地」 is used in 座り心地 meaning ‘sitting comfort’; 「座り心地がいい」 means ‘feels comfortable to sit’.
  • 応接室 の 椅子に 座る 来客を 迎える
    Ousetsushitsu no isu ni suwaru raikyaku o mukaeru
    Greet the guests who are sitting on the chair in the reception room.
    Lista:
    • 応接室 (ousetsushitsu) – reception room
    • の (no) – of
    • 椅子に (isu ni) – to the chair
    • 座る (suwaru) – sit
    • 来客を (raikyaku o) – guests (object marker)
    • 迎える (mukaeru) – greet
    The sentence uses 「応接室」 to indicate the reception area, setting the scene for greeting guests.
椅子