4

How would I describe a baby kangaroo in Japanese? Would I call it "ジョーイ" (katakana for "joey", which is used in English for pretty much any baby marsupial), or "子カンガルー" (literally baby-kangaroo).

The English edition of Wiktionary doesn't have a translation. Weblio only has info on the given name "Joey" at both the page on ジョーイ or on Joey.

Doing a google image search using 子カンガルー gave me better results than doing one on ジョーイ, but that could just be because the former doesn't have to compete against synonyms.

Improve this question
5
  • 2
    "Baby [insert an animal name]" is always 子[animal].
    – broccoli facemask
    Feb 21, 2016 at 11:13
  • @broccoliforest ouch. I remembered that just as I was about to open up this page. I was confused by some people's name ending with "子".
    – Andrew Grimm
    Feb 21, 2016 at 11:24
  • @broccoliforest, I don't agree. That formula works best with native Japanese animal names. I can't think of any katakana animal names that it works well with, including 子カンガルー　(which would be understood, but sounds unnatural).
    – dainichi
    Feb 21, 2016 at 23:44
  • @dainichi I understand you, but I don't think the criteria is being native words. It works best with relatively short and widespread animals. To me, 子ガラス and 子フクロウ sound as (un)natural as 子カンガルー. IME seems to include 子パンダ btw.
    – broccoli facemask
    Feb 22, 2016 at 4:22
  • @broccoliforest, 子フクロウ does give quite a few Google hits, but so does 子カンガルー, so you're absolutely right that it's not as clear cut as I might have led to believe. Anyway, I was mostly trying to clarify your "always"-comment which I thought could be misleading.
    – dainichi
    Feb 24, 2016 at 1:20

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
2

Basically, you have two choices:

「カンガルーの[赤]{あか}ちゃん」 and 「赤ちゃんカンガルー」 (No 「の」 needed in the latter.)

「カンガルー子」 does not make much sense at all, which you might find surprising. You need to use a particle. 「カンガルーの[子]{こ}」 makes perfect sense, but it does not carry the meaning of "baby" specifically. It includes the toddler version of a kangaroo as well.

「ジョーイ」 is a word I have heard for the first time today.

Improve this answer
1
  • 2
    Sorry, I should have asked about "子カンガルー", not "カンガルー子".
    – Andrew Grimm
    Feb 21, 2016 at 11:28

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .