Meaning

Primary

Straw Sandals

Alternative

Zori Sandals

Word Type

noun

Explanation

Use woven grass to make some footwear. Congrats, you've got a pair of straw sandals! You could also just call these zori sandals, since there's not really an English equivalent.

Zori are Japanese sandals traditionally made with woven rice straw (hence the name), though plastic and rubber ones are common too these days. You wear them flip-flop style, with a thong passing between the toes to keep them secure.

Reading

ぞうり
  • Miyuki
    (Tokyo accent, female)
  • Kenichi
    (Tokyo accent, male)

Explanation

This jukugo word uses on'yomi readings, but the そう reading for 草 becomes ぞう for some reason, so here's a mnemonic to help you remember it:

Straw sandals are often worn by zombies (ぞう). Zombies are undead, which means they've been around forever, which means they're still wearing centuries-old traditional zori sandals. Would it make sense to see a zombie in Air Jordans? No. Real zombies wear zori.

Context

Patterns of Use

Common Word Combinations

  • 草履をはく

    to wear zori sandals

    草履を作る

    to make zori sandals

    草履を脱ぐ

    to take off zori sandals

    草履を買う

    to buy zori sandals

    草履を持っている

    to have zori sandals

Context Sentences

私のおじいちゃんは毎日草履をはいている。

My grandpa wears zori sandals every day.

なので、私もマネして草履をはいてみた。草履では走りにくいと思ったが、意外とそうでもなかった。

So I decided to copy him and try wearing zori sandals too. I thought they'd be hard to run in, but surprisingly they weren't that bad.

ちょっとドキドキしたけど、草履でコンビニにも行ってみた。なぜかアイスを買うだけでイベント感が出た。

I was a little nervous, but I even tried going to the convenience store in zori sandals. Somehow, just buying ice cream suddenly felt like a special event.

それから、草履の「ぺた、ぺた」という音を聞きながら、ゆっくり帰った。 その日から、少しだけ草履で出かけるのが楽しみになった。

After that, I slowly walked home, listening to the soft "peta, peta" sound of my zori sandals. From that day on, going out in zori became something I looked forward to, if only a little.

Kanji Composition