ご馳走
ごちそう
gochisou
= feast; treat; delicious meal; to treat someone (to a meal)
The word gochisou (ご馳走) carries a story in its very kanji: it literally means “to gallop and run,” evoking the image of a host dashing around to gather the finest ingredients for a guest. That sense of effort and care is baked into every use of the word today.
As a noun, gochisou refers to a lavish, special meal — a feast or treat that goes beyond everyday eating. It implies both the quality of the food and the hospitality behind it. As a suru-verb (gochisou suru), it means to treat someone to a meal, i.e., to pay for their food. The casual contracted form ogochi occasionally appears among close friends. In register, it leans formal or appreciative: you would not use it to describe a convenience-store lunch, but you would use it for a home-cooked birthday spread, a business dinner, or a restaurant meal paid for by someone else.
Learners often wonder whether to write gochisou in hiragana (ごちそう) or kanji (ご馳走). Both are correct; hiragana is more common in everyday writing. The long vowel in sou (そう) is written with u, not o — do not romanize it as gochisoo. Also note the fixed phrase gochisou-sama deshita (ごちそうさまでした): this is said after finishing a meal to express gratitude — both to the cook and, culturally, to the ingredients themselves. Skipping it at a Japanese dinner table is considered rude. Finally, gochisou suru always implies the speaker is the one paying; use gochisou ni naru (ごちそうになる) when someone else is treating you.
The word is written with the honorific prefix 御 (ご) followed by two kanji that both mean “to run”: 馳 (chi), meaning to gallop or rush, and 走 (sou), meaning to run. Together they paint the picture of a host racing around — visiting markets, haggling with fishmongers, picking the best vegetables — purely to give guests a memorable meal. This etymology is unique to ご馳走 and explains why the word carries connotations of effort and generosity alongside the idea of delicious food.
Everyday use
今夜はお父さんが誕生日だから、ごちそうを作ろう。
Konya wa otousan ga tanjoubi dakara, gochisou wo tsukurou.
Since it’s Dad’s birthday tonight, let’s make a feast.
Casual / Social Media
昨日、先輩にランチをごちそうしてもらいました！最高でした。
Kinou, senpai ni ranchi wo gochisou shite moraimashita! Saikou deshita.
My senior treated me to lunch yesterday! It was amazing.
Formal / Cultural context
本日はごちそうさまでした。とても美味しくいただきました。
Honjitsu wa gochisou-sama deshita. Totemo oishiku itadakimashita.
Thank you so much for the wonderful meal today. Everything was truly delicious.
The phrase gochisou-sama deshita (ごちそうさまでした) is one of the two essential mealtime expressions in Japanese, paired with itadakimasu said before eating. Where itadakimasu expresses gratitude at the start of a meal, gochisou-sama deshita closes it — thanking the cook, the host, and implicitly the living things that became the meal. The abbreviation gochisou-sama is acceptable in casual settings, but the full form is expected in formal or restaurant contexts.
In Japanese social life, gochisou suru (to treat someone) carries specific relationship meaning. A senior colleague treating a junior, a parent treating an adult child, or a client treating a vendor are all common patterns — and the person being treated is expected to protest at least once before accepting. This ritual of offering and declining (enryo) reflects values of reciprocity and humility. Keeping track of who treated whom last is an unspoken but real part of maintaining relationships.
Certain occasions in Japan are culturally marked as gochisou days: New Year’s (osechi ryori), birthdays, hare (special) events like school entrance ceremonies, and weddings all call for elevated meals. On these days, even families who eat modestly throughout the year will spend extra care and money on food, because the meal itself is a statement of celebration and love.