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Japanese body parts

From a yoga class to a doctor's office, the body words come up constantly — and they're pleasingly short. Most are one or two morae and many use everyday kanji you'll meet again. This page works head to toe through the words you'll actually need, untangles the two famous traps (足 is foot or leg; 手 stretches to the whole arm), shows how to say where it hurts, and ends with the body idioms Japanese sprinkles through ordinary conversation.

Head to toe — the core words

Start with the big landmarks. 体 (karada) is the body itself; everything else hangs off it. Notice how many are doubled-sound words — みみ, はな — which makes them easy to say and hard to forget.

The face, up close

The face (顔, kao) packs the highest-frequency words of all — you'll use 目, 口, and 耳 from your first week.

Arms, hands and the 足 trap

The limbs hide the single most common confusion for learners. In English, hand, arm, foot, and leg are four separate words. In everyday Japanese they often collapse into two.

One more neat overlap: 指 (yubi) is the word for both finger and toe. A toe is literally a "foot finger," 足の指 (ashi no yubi), using the の that glues two nouns together.

Saying where it hurts

This is the practical payoff — being able to tell a pharmacist or doctor what's wrong. The pattern is wonderfully simple: body part + が + 痛い (itai, "is painful"). Add です to be polite.

痛い is an い-adjective, so it carries its own tense — 痛かった (itakatta) is "it hurt." For a couple of body parts there's also a one-word noun: a headache is 頭痛 (zutsū) and a stomachache is 腹痛 (fukutsū), used with 〜がします: 頭痛がします. And to say you feel generally unwell, 体の調子が悪いです (karada no chōshi ga warui desu, "my body's condition is bad").

Counting fingers, and a note on plurals

Japanese has no plural -s, so 目 is "eye" or "eyes" — number comes from context or a counter. Long thin parts (fingers, arms, legs) take the counter 本 (hon): 指が十本 (yubi ga juppon, "ten fingers"). Eyes and ears, coming in pairs, are usually just understood as both. And to say a part of your own body you don't need "my" — 手を洗う (te wo arau) simply means "wash (my) hands."

The body in everyday expressions

Body parts power a huge number of set phrases — knowing them makes fast conversation suddenly click. A few you'll genuinely hear:

Notice 耳が痛い doubles as both a literal earache and the idiom "that's painful to hear" — context tells you which. That layering of literal and figurative is everywhere once you start listening for it.

Putting it together

1. 体 (karada) is the body; most parts are short, one- or two-mora words.
2. 足 is foot or leg, and 手 stretches from hand to whole arm — context decides; 脚 and 腕 are the precise words.
3. 指 means finger and toe; a toe is 足の指.
4. Say where it hurts with [part]が痛い(です) — the single most useful pattern on this page.
5. No plurals: 目 is eye or eyes; count long parts with 本.

Common questions

How do you say body in Japanese?

Body is 体 (karada). "Whole body" is 全身 (zenshin); a more formal/medical form is 身体 (karada or shintai). Everyday, 体 is the word — 体にいい means "good for your health."

Does 足 mean foot or leg?

Both. 足 (ashi) is the foot and, loosely, the whole leg; when you need to be exact, 足 leans to the foot and 脚 (also ashi) means the leg. The same happens with 手 (hand, but often the whole arm) vs 腕 (ude, arm).

How do you say it hurts in Japanese?

Body part + が + 痛い (itai): 頭が痛い (headache), お腹が痛い (stomachache), 喉が痛い (sore throat). Add です to be polite, or point and say ここが痛いです ("it hurts here").

How do you say my head hurts / I have a headache?

頭が痛い (atama ga itai), politely 頭が痛いです. There's also the noun 頭痛 (zutsū): 頭痛がします means "I have a headache" too.

Is there a Japanese word for both finger and toe?

Yes — 指 (yubi) covers both. A toe is a "foot finger," 足の指 (ashi no yubi). Count them with the 本 counter for long thin things.

Next steps: see how 痛い behaves on adjectives, count parts with counters, glue words with particles, or pick up everyday family and colour vocabulary.