中国(ちゅうごく)

ちゅうごく
noun
China; Chugoku region (western Honshu)
geographyproper-nounplace-name
1. China (the country); the People's Republic of China
The standard Japanese name for China.
中国(ちゅうごく)に行(い)ったことがある。
I've been to China.
中国(ちゅうごく)は人口(じんこう)が世界(せかい)で二番目(にばんめ)に多(おお)い。
China has the world's second-largest population.
中国(ちゅうごく)との貿易(ぼうえき)は年々(ねんねん)増(ふ)えている。
Trade with China is increasing year by year.
2. Chugoku region; western Honshu
The western region of Japan's main island Honshu, comprising Tottori, Shimane, Okayama, Hiroshima, and Yamaguchi prefectures. To avoid ambiguity with the country name, this region is sometimes called 中国地方(ちゅうごくちほう).
広島(ひろしま)は中国地方(ちゅうごくちほう)の中心都市(ちゅうしんとし)だ。
Hiroshima is the central city of the Chugoku region.
中国(ちゅうごく)出身(しゅっしん)と言(い)っても、国(くに)ではなく中国地方(ちゅうごくちほう)のことだった。
When he said he was from Chugoku, he meant the region, not the country.
中国地方(ちゅうごくちほう)は瀬戸内海(せとないかい)と日本海(にほんかい)の両方(りょうほう)に面(めん)している。
The Chugoku region faces both the Seto Inland Sea and the Sea of Japan.

Sense 1 (the country) is by far the more common everyday meaning. Sense 2 (the western Honshu region) often gets the disambiguating suffix 地方(ちほう) when context might confuse it with the country.

Common collocations

general
Added 2026.5.28 13:11 · Revised 2026.9.2 13:02
28000/28300_chuugoku