JLPT N2 · Upper-intermediate
JLPT N2 vocabulary list
Working proficiency: newspaper vocabulary, formal register, and the compound words that carry most written Japanese.
- Words
- 1,755
- Example sentences
- 5,265
- Written with kanji
- 1,495
- Kana only
- 260 (15%)
N2 is the level employers actually ask for if you are trying to make a move at some point. Some of these words are almost absent from casual speech.
What passing looks like: You can read a newspaper article without a dictionary and follow a meeting conducted in Japanese.
A sample of the list
- 銅どう
copper (Cu)
- 家主やぬし
landlord; landlady
- 一定いってい
to fix; to settle; to standardize; to regularize
- 上下じょうげ
top and bottom; high and low; above and below; upper and lower ends; up and down
- 艶つや
gloss; luster; lustre; shine; sheen; polish
- 重なるかさなる
to be piled up; to lie on top of one another
- 重役じゅうやく
(company) director; executive; top management
- 火傷やけどusually kana
burn; scald
- 擦るこするusually kana
to rub; to scrub; to scrape
- 傾くかたむく
to incline toward; to slant; to lurch; to heel over; to be disposed to; to trend toward; to be prone to
- 下品げひん
vulgar; indecent; coarse; crude
- 冠かんむり
traditional cap worn by Shinto clergy and courtiers
Where the full N2 list is
All 1,755 N2 words, with their 5,265 example sentences, are in Kotoba Loop.
The sample above is the real data, and the N5 list shows the format in full: every word with its readings, all of its meanings, and three sentences with furigana.
Other levels
Definitions from JMdict under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences are our own. See licenses.