Translation guide
The English word 'char' has several distinct meanings. This guide covers the most common ones for learners: burning or blackening something, a type of tea, and a character in computing. It also notes a British English usage for tea and a cleaning job.
Expressing that something is partially burned, blackened, or reduced to charcoal.
Intransitive verb meaning 'to be burned, scorched, charred'. Used when something becomes blackened by fire or heat.
トーストが焦げた。
The toast got charred.
Transitive verb meaning 'to burn, scorch, char'. Used when someone or something causes charring.
彼はステーキを焦がしてしまった。
He charred the steak.
Phrase meaning 'to be charred black, burnt to a cinder'. Emphasizes the result of being completely blackened.
家が火事で黒焦げになった。
The house was charred black by the fire.
Technical term meaning 'to carbonize, char'. Used in scientific or formal contexts.
木材を炭化させる。
Carbonize the wood.
Referring to tea, especially in British English where 'char' is slang for tea.
General word for tea. Use this in most contexts when referring to tea.
お茶を一杯いかがですか。
Would you like a cup of char?
Specifically black tea, which is what 'char' usually implies in British slang.
Referring to a character in text, programming, or data.
General word for a character (letter, digit, symbol).
この文字は何ですか。
What is this char?
Loanword from English, often used in computing contexts.
Specifically the 'char' data type in programming languages like C or Java.
この変数はchar型です。
This variable is of type char.
Referring to working as a cleaner, especially in British English where 'char' can mean a charwoman or to do charring.
Phrase meaning 'to work as a cleaning lady'. This is the closest equivalent to the British 'char' as a job.
彼女は掃除婦として働いている。
She chars for a living.
Noun meaning 'cleaning lady, charwoman'. Note that this term can be considered dated or gendered.
掃除婦を雇う。
Hire a char.
When referring to a person in a story or movie, use 登場人物 (とうじょうじんぶつ) or キャラクター, not 文字. 文字 is only for written characters.
In Japanese, there is no direct slang equivalent. Simply use お茶 or 紅茶. The British usage is not widely understood in Japan.
Make us a char, will you?
1バイトは1キャラクターを表す。
One byte represents one char.