文系(ぶんけい)

ぶんけい
noun
humanities and social sciences (track); arts
education
1. humanities and social sciences; the arts track
The group of academic fields covering literature, languages, law, economics and the like, as opposed to 理系(りけい) (sciences). Also a person who studies them.
私(わたし)は文系(ぶんけい)です。
I'm on the humanities side.
大学(だいがく)は文系(ぶんけい)の学部(がくぶ)に進(すす)んだ。
At university I went into a humanities faculty.
高校(こうこう)二年(にねん)で文系(ぶんけい)と理系(りけい)に分(わ)かれるのが一般的(いっぱんてき)だ。
Students are usually split into arts and science tracks in the second year of high school.

Common collocations

  • 文系(ぶんけい)学部(がくぶ): humanities and social-science faculties
  • 文系(ぶんけい)科目(かもく): arts subjects (Japanese, social studies, English)
  • 文系(ぶんけい)出身(しゅっしん): having studied in the arts track

Cultural note

Japanese high schools split students into 文系(ぶんけい) and 理系(りけい), and the choice decides which university entrance exams they take. The labels are also used for people: 私(わたし)は文系(ぶんけい)だから数学(すうがく)が苦手(にがて) "I'm an arts person, so I'm bad at math."

general
Added 2026.10.9 4:04 · Revised 2026.10.9 4:06
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