(よじょうはん)

よじょうはん
noun
four-and-a-half-mat room
1. four-and-a-half-tatami-mat room
A small room measuring four and a half tatami mats (about 7.3 square meters), a classic size for a modest Japanese room.
学生時代(がくせいじだい)四畳半(よじょうはん)()んでいた。
In my student days I lived in a four-and-a-half-mat room.
四畳半(よじょうはん)部屋(へや)(おも)ったより(せま)い。
A four-and-a-half-mat room is smaller than you'd expect.
(むかし)ながらの四畳半(よじょうはん)下宿(げしゅく)で、(わか)(ころ)()ごした。
I spent my youth in an old-fashioned four-and-a-half-mat lodging.

A room measuring four and a half (たたみ) (tatami mats), about 7.3 square meters. A classic size for a small, modest room.

COMMON COLLOCATIONS:

  • 四畳半(よじょうはん)部屋(へや): a four-and-a-half-mat room
  • 四畳半(よじょうはん)一間(ひとま): a single small room

CULTURAL NOTE:
The 四畳半(よじょうはん) evokes nostalgic, sometimes romanticized images of frugal student or single life and appears often in literature and film.