かばん
かばん
hepburn kaban
bag, briefcase
Part of speech · noun
Pattern visualization
no decomposition available
Examples
- 黒いカバンを持っています。I have a black bag.
- カバンに本を入れました。I put the book in the bag.
Collocations
カバン / 鞄 (kaban, bag / briefcase)カバンを持つ (kaban wo motsu, carry a bag)ハンドバッグ (handobaggu, handbag)リュック (ryukku, backpack — from German Rucksack)ランドセル (randoseru, school satchel)
Mnemonic
カバン / 鞄 kaban — written in both kana and kanji. Etymology disputed: either from Chinese 夾板 (jiāban, clamping board) or Dutch kabas (basket-like bag). Settled into Japanese before the Meiji period. As with general Japanese clothing vocabulary, bag terms are richly loaned: リュック (ryukku, backpack, from German Rucksack), ランドセル (randoseru, the iconic Japanese elementary-school satchel, from Dutch ransel). All Meiji-era borrowings — the loanword pattern repeats.
Quick check
Origin language and use of ランドセル?