Translation guide
In Japanese, expressing 'sunburn' depends on whether you mean the red, painful skin condition or the resulting tan. The most common word covers both, but context and additional words clarify the meaning.
The speaker wants to refer to the acute skin condition caused by overexposure to the sun, characterized by redness, pain, and possible peeling.
The general term for sunburn or suntan. When describing painful redness, it is often modified with adjectives like 赤い (red) or ひどい (severe).
日焼けがひどくて、背中が痛い。
I got a bad sunburn and my back hurts.
日焼けで肌が真っ赤になった。
My skin turned bright red from sunburn.
Literally 'inflammation from sunburn', used in more medical or explanatory contexts.
日焼けによる炎症を抑えるには、冷やすのが効果的です。
To reduce inflammation from sunburn, cooling is effective.
Loanword from English, used specifically for the red, painful type of sunburn, often in beauty or medical contexts.
サンバーン用のアフターケア製品を探しています。
I'm looking for aftercare products for sunburn.
The speaker wants to refer to the browning or darkening of skin from sun exposure, often seen as desirable.
Same word as for sunburn. Context usually makes it clear. To emphasize the tan, you can say いい日焼け (nice tan) or 黒く日焼けする (to get darkly tanned).
海でいい日焼けができた。
I got a nice tan at the beach.
彼は黒く日焼けしていて、健康的に見える。
He is darkly tanned and looks healthy.
Literally 'wheat-colored skin', a common and positive way to describe a tanned complexion.
夏になって、小麦色の肌がまぶしい。
Now that it's summer, her wheat-colored skin is dazzling.
Loanword from English 'suntan', used in fashion or beauty contexts.
The speaker wants to express the action of getting a sunburn or tan.
The standard verb phrase meaning 'to get sunburned/tanned'. Can be used for both painful sunburn and desirable tan.
昨日、海で日焼けしちゃった。
I got sunburned at the beach yesterday.
日焼けしすぎて、皮がむけてきた。
I got too sunburned and my skin is starting to peel.
Literally 'to be burned by the sun', often used to describe the result rather than intentional tanning.
外でずっと作業していたら、日に焼けてしまった。
I was working outside all day and got sunburned.
The speaker wants to talk about treating or soothing sunburn.
General phrase for treating sunburn.
日焼けの手当てには、冷たいタオルが一番です。
For treating sunburn, a cold towel is best.
Specifically 'to cool down sunburn'.
まずは日焼けを冷やしてください。
First, please cool down the sunburn.
Sunburn (日焼け) is a skin condition. Heatstroke or sunstroke is 熱中症 (ねっちゅうしょう) or 日射病 (にっしゃびょう). These are different and require different treatment.
Since 日焼け can mean both sunburn and suntan, adjectives help: 赤い日焼け (red sunburn) vs. 黒い日焼け (dark tan) or いい日焼け (nice tan).
I applied suntan oil and sunbathed.