Translation guide
Ways to express very high temperatures in Japanese, from everyday hot weather to dangerous heat waves.
Describing uncomfortably or dangerously high air temperature or weather conditions.
Standard term for extreme heat or intense summer heat, often used in weather forecasts and news.
今日は猛暑になるでしょう。
It will be extremely hot today.
Severe heat, often implying harsh or unbearable conditions. Slightly more intense than 猛暑.
今年の夏は酷暑が続いています。
This summer, severe heat has been continuing.
A day with a maximum temperature of 35°C or above, a specific meteorological term.
明日は猛暑日になる見込みです。
Tomorrow is expected to be an extremely hot day.
Heat wave, used in news and scientific contexts.
ヨーロッパを熱波が襲った。
A heat wave hit Europe.
Describing extreme heat radiating from things like fire, sun, or hot surfaces.
Scorching heat, often used for the sun, fire, or burning-hot objects. Conveys a sense of blazing intensity.
灼熱の太陽の下で働く。
Work under the scorching sun.
Blazing heat, somewhat literary. Used for extreme heat like that from flames.
Referring to medical conditions caused by extreme heat.
Heat stroke or heat illness. The general term for health problems caused by overheating.
熱中症に気をつけてください。
Please be careful of heat stroke.
Sunstroke, specifically caused by direct exposure to sunlight. Often used interchangeably with 熱中症 in casual speech.
Casual and colloquial ways to say it's extremely hot.
Too hot. Simple and common way to express that the heat is excessive.
今日は暑すぎて外に出られない。
It's too hot today to go outside.
So hot I could die. A hyperbolic, colloquial expression for extreme heat.
死ぬほど暑い日だった。
It was a day so hot I could die.
Scorching heat, literally 'searing heat'. Vivid and descriptive.
焼けつくような暑さの中を歩いた。
I walked in the scorching heat.
猛暑 is the standard term for extreme summer heat, often used in forecasts. 酷暑 implies more severe, harsh heat. 灼熱 refers to scorching, burning heat from a source like the sun or fire, and is more vivid.
猛暑が続いています。
Extreme heat continues.
酷暑で寝られない。
I can't sleep because of the severe heat.
灼熱の砂漠。
A scorching desert.
Avoid literal translations like '極端な熱' (extreme heat) for weather; it sounds unnatural. Use 猛暑 or 酷暑 instead.
猛暑のため、多くの人が熱中症になった。
The extreme heat caused many people to suffer from heat stroke.
灼熱の太陽の下で働いた。
We worked under the extreme heat of the sun.
It's a hellish, blazing heat.
日射病で倒れた。
I collapsed from sunstroke.