ビール

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. ビールを一本ください。▶ —
   One beer, please.
2. 生ビールが美味しいです。▶ —
   Draft beer is delicious.

Collocations

Mnemonic

ビール — biiru, a loanword. Written in katakana. It came not from English beer but from Dutch bier ── the same route as コーヒー, the Dutch trade at Nagasaki in the Edo era. In that single sound-gap between Japanese 'bii-ru' and English 'beer' sits the history that the Netherlands was Japan's one Western window during the seclusion. A core word of izakaya (居酒屋) culture and a word of social ritual ── とりあえずビール toriaezu biiru ('beer for now'): the default first order at any gathering. 'Whatever else we order later, beer first'. Not an order but a social lubricant. Korean 'ildan soju / useon maekju' carries the same feel ── a shared ritual of East Asian group dining. A loanword sibling along the same koffie / bier route ── コーヒー and ビール are both fossils of Dutch pronunciation.

Quick check

1. Role of "toriaezu biiru" in Japanese drinking culture?

   • Default first order at gatherings — "beer to start" ritual
   • A beer ad
   • Bottled-beer-only phrase
   • For non-drinkers