麦酒

Japanese

Etymology

ビール from Dutch Bier. The kanji characters, literally meaning “barley wine,” were applied during the 1600s. Their use is now mostly deprecated, although the characters appear in some contexts, such as on beer labels.

Noun

麦酒 (hiragana ばくしゅ, romaji bakushu) (obsolete)
麦酒 (katakana ビール, romaji bīru) (common)

1. beer (usually written ビール)

See also

• アルコール (arukōru): alcohol
• 酒 (さけ, sake): sake