kuruma

Kuruma is a Japanese noun meaning car or vehicle. It is written with the kanji 車. The character historically denotes a cart or wheel, and in modern Japanese kuruma refers to an automobile in everyday speech, though the same character can denote wheels or carts in other contexts. In formal or specialized contexts, compound terms such as 自動車 (jidōsha, automobile), 乗用車 (jōyōsha, passenger car), and 車両 (sharyō, vehicle) are used.

The word’s pronunciation uses the kun’yomi reading kuruma; the on’yomi reading sha appears in compounds borrowed from Chinese, such as 自動車 (jidōsha) where the same concept is read with on’yomi. The kana form kuruma is also common in casual writing and speech.

Beyond its primary meaning, kuruma occurs in other uses. The term 車海老 (kuruma-ebi) refers to the kuruma shrimp, Penaeus japonicus, a popular edible prawn in Japanese cuisine. Kuruma can also appear as a surname and in geographic or personal names.

In Japanese-language contexts, kuruma exemplifies how a single kanji can carry broad senses related to wheels and vehicles, expanding to specialized terms and everyday speech. It also illustrates the distinction between kun’yomi and on’yomi readings within compound vocabulary.