VocabularyJLPT N4 · core

田舎

いなか

hepburn inaka

countryside, rural area, hometown

Part of speech · noun

Pattern visualization

田field

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Examples

夏休みに祖母の住む田舎へ行きました。
Over summer break I went to the countryside where my grandmother lives.
田舎は空気がきれいで静かです。
The countryside has clean air and is quiet.

Collocations

田舎に住む田舎へ帰る田舎の生活田舎暮らし田舎育ち

Mnemonic

田舎 inaka — 田 (rice field) + 舎 (dwelling). The pair is read いなか as a jukujikun (a reading assigned to the whole compound, not syllable by syllable). A place of fields and houses is the countryside or one's hometown. It is the opposite of 都会 (the city, K-76). 田舎へ帰る = to return to one's hometown.

Quick check

What is the reading style of 田舎, where a reading is given to the whole compound?