Yakitori, teriyaki and okonomiyaki share one kanji (焼)

Yakitori, teriyaki and okonomiyaki all end in the same kanji, 焼 (yaki), from 焼く (yaku), to grill. Read the rest of each name and you know the dish: yakitori (焼き鳥) is grilled bird, teriyaki (照り焼き) is grilled with a shine, and okonomiyaki (お好み焼き) is grilled the way you like it.

What the kanji say

焼 (yaku, or shou) means to grill, roast, bake or burn. The 火 on its left is fire. The right side gave the sound; in the older, fuller form of the kanji, 燒, it was written 堯.

鳥 (tori) is a bird, and it began as a drawing of one. On a menu, though, 鳥 usually means chicken.

照 (teru, or shou) means to shine. The four dots at the bottom, 灬, are another way of writing 火, fire, and the 昭 on top gives the sound: the light of a fire shining on something. 照る (teru) is to shine, and 照り (teri) is a shine or gloss.

好 (konomu, suki, or kou) means to like. It’s 女, a woman, beside 子, a child. The usual explanation is a mother with her baby, a picture of something good and loved, though scholars have suggested other readings too. You may know it from 好き (suki), liked, and 大好き (daisuki), loved.

The three names, one by one

焼き鳥 (yakitori) is grilled bird: bite-sized pieces of chicken on a skewer. Some yakitori shops also grill beef or pork offal the same way. The name is literal: in older Japanese, yakitori could mean any small grilled bird, sparrows included.

照り焼き (teriyaki) is shine plus grill. Meat or fish is grilled with a sweet soy-based sauce, which cooks down into a glossy glaze. That gloss is the 照り. In Japan, a classic is ぶりの照り焼き (buri no teriyaki), yellowtail teriyaki.

お好み焼き (okonomiyaki) is お, a polite prefix, plus 好み (konomi), liking or preference, plus 焼き. Wiktionary gives it as “grilling to your liking”: a savoury pancake of batter, cabbage and whatever else you like, such as pork or seafood. Osaka and Hiroshima each have their own famous style.

One small correction to “grill”: 焼く covers almost any cooking with dry heat. It’s grilling, but also roasting, toasting, baking bread (パンを焼く, pan o yaku) and cooking on a flat hot plate, which is how okonomiyaki and 焼きそば (yakisoba), fried noodles, are made.

How to use it

• 焼き鳥を二本ください。

  Yakitori o nihon kudasai.

  Two yakitori skewers, please.

• 塩とタレ、どちらにしますか。

  Shio to tare, dochira ni shimasu ka.

  Salt or sauce? (the cook's question)

• タレでお願いします。

  Tare de onegai shimasu.

  With sauce, please.

• 照り焼きチキンが好きです。

  Teriyaki chikin ga suki desu.

  I like teriyaki chicken.

• お好み焼きを自分で焼くお店もあります。

  Okonomiyaki o jibun de yaku omise mo arimasu.

  Some okonomiyaki places let you cook it yourself.

• Yakitori comes by the skewer. Count skewers with 本 (hon), the counter for long, thin things: 一本 (ippon), 二本 (nihon), 三本 (sanbon).
• Salt or sauce? 塩 (shio) is plain salt; タレ (tare) is a sweet, soy-based sauce that goes on while the skewers cook.
• お好み turns up at sushi bars too. Ordering お好み means choosing piece by piece yourself, instead of leaving it all to the chef.
• 焼 is all over the menu: 焼き魚 (yakizakana), grilled fish, たこ焼き (takoyaki), octopus balls, and 目玉焼き (medamayaki), a fried egg, literally “eyeball-grilled”.

Words with the same kanji

Remember it

Picture one hot grill, 焼, with three things on it: a bird (鳥) on a skewer, a glaze that shines (照) under the lights, and a pancake topped however you like (好). Everything that comes off it ends in yaki.

The kanji in this lesson

Tap Draw it to watch the stroke order. Numbers show where each stroke starts.

Draw it

Draw it

Draw it

Draw it

Sources

• Wiktionary: 照り焼き
• Wiktionary: お好み焼き
• Jisho (JMdict): 焼き鳥

Written by the Chirami team with the help of AI, then checked against JMdict and KANJIDIC2. How we write lessons. Spotted a mistake? Email support@brightsmilesolutions.org.