毒 – How to use this Poisonous, Toxic, and Venomous word
The Kanji character 毒 in Japanese refers to words such as poison, venom, and toxin. In English to these words look very different but basically mean some substance that causes harm. 毒 in Japanese can mean any of these three. Let’s take a closer look.
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What does 毒 mean in Japanese?
毒 means something that can cause harm like poison, venom, something toxic, and so on.
Poison in Japanese
Poison is usually some kind of chemical that causes harm to the body. 毒 is the word for poison in Japanese. When someone says 毒 it is most of the time referring to poison instead of the other two following words. Poison would be the most common translation for 毒. If you want to be more specific you could say something like 毒薬 which would mean some kind of poisonous liquid, or medicine. It is more common though to just say 毒.
https://japaneseuniverse.com/2024/02/18/pac-man-in-japaneseconcepts-behind-development-to-global-icon/Venom in Japanese
The word venom in Japanese is more specific than poison. Venom would be poison from an animal. There is not a specific word to differentiate venom from poison in Japanese. But, if you wanted to talk about an animals venom like a snake, or even say something like venomous snake, you could say:
蛇の毒
a snake’s venom
毒蛇
a venomous snake
Toxin in Japanese
Next, the word for toxin in Japanese is a little different. A toxin is a harmful substance produced in an organism.
In Japanese, that word would be 毒素. This word is a little more technical than just 毒. If you want to say that something is toxic, you could say a few things.
毒性のある
toxic (literally: having toxicity)
毒物
toxic material
Other Important words with 毒
毒 is also a character in other words. First, 有毒 which is used as an adjective describes things that are poisonous, venomous, and toxic. Next, 中毒 is a commonly used word. It can mean to be poisoned, intoxicated, or drunk, and even to be addicted.
