皿
さら
hepburn sara
plate, dish
Part of speech · noun
Pattern visualization
no decomposition available
Examples
- お皿を洗ってください。Please wash the dishes.
- 料理を大きなお皿に盛りました。I served the dish on a big plate.
Collocations
皿 / お皿 (sara / o-sara, plate)小皿 (kozara, small plate)大皿 (oozara, large plate)皿洗い (sara-arai, dish washing)取り皿 (torizara, sharing plate)
Mnemonic
Sara (皿) is "plate / dish" — daily speech adds the beautification prefix お, yielding o-sara, which sounds more natural. Size splits: kozara (small), oozara (large), chuuzara (medium). Dining-manner term torizara — the sharing plate used in Japanese / Chinese banquets to portion out shared dishes. Sara-arai = dish-washing. The kanji 皿 is pictographic — 5 strokes depicting a bowl in profile. Idiom: sara no you ni me o mihiraku ("eyes opened wide as a plate") for surprise.
Quick check
Plate for portioning out shared dishes at a banquet?