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How to Say ‘Bottleneck’ in Japanese

ボトルネック

botoru nekku

[boh-toh-roo nehk-koo]

💬 Usage Tip: [ボトルネック] is borrowed from English and used often in business and tech Japanese.

🇯🇵 In Japan: Japanese uses many loanwords in office talk. Sometimes they sound very familiar to English speakers, which feels like a tiny language bonus.

Phrase Breakdown

ボトル

botoru

[boh-toh-roo]

bottle

The first part of the loanword ボトルネック, from English "bottle."

Example

ボトルの口は細いです。

The mouth of the bottle is narrow.

ネック

nekku

[nehk-koo]

neck; bottleneck

The second part of ボトルネック; in business it refers to the blocking point in a process.

Example

ネックになる部分を調べましょう。

Let's examine the part that is becoming the bottleneck.

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