スプーン
スプーン
supuun
= spoon
スプーン (supuun) is the Japanese word for spoon, borrowed directly from English. In a culture where chopsticks (箸, hashi) are the primary eating utensils, the spoon arrived as a Western import but quickly found specific niches: soup, curry, rice porridge, and desserts. The spoon’s role in Japanese eating culture reflects how Western utensils have been selectively adopted for specific foods rather than replacing chopsticks.
Supuun (スプーン) means a spoon of any kind — soup spoon, dessert spoon, or measuring spoon. Types: スープスプーン (suupu supuun — soup spoon), ティースプーン (tii supuun — teaspoon), 大さじ (oosaji — tablespoon, Japanese term for cooking measurement), 小さじ (kosaji — teaspoon measurement, Japanese term). In Japanese cooking recipes, measurements are given as 大さじ1 (oosaji ichi — 1 tablespoon) and 小さじ1 (kosaji ichi — 1 teaspoon) rather than ‘supuun.’ The cooking measurement terms use the Japanese さじ (saji — spoon, ladle) rather than the loanword.
The idiom さじを投げる (saji wo nageru — to throw down the spoon) is the most culturally significant Japanese expression related to spoons. It means to give up entirely on someone or something — specifically to stop treating a patient as hopeless, then expanded to any abandonment of effort. Doctors or teachers ‘throwing down the spoon’ signals they’ve exhausted all options. This idiom survives from old Japanese さじ even as スプーン has replaced it in everyday speech.
スプーン is written in katakana from English ‘spoon.’ The native Japanese word for spoon is さじ (saji), which survives mainly in cooking measurement terms (大さじ, 小さじ) and the idiom さじを投げる (saji wo nageru — to throw the spoon = to give up on something, to wash one’s hands of a case, originally from doctors giving up on a patient).
Everyday use
カレーを食べるときはスプーンで食べるのが普通なのか、箸で食べる人もいるのかが気になる。
Karee wo taberu toki wa supuun de taberu no ga futsuu na no ka, hashi de taberu hito mo iru no ka ga ki ni naru.
I’m curious — is it normal to eat curry with a spoon, or do some people eat it with chopsticks?
Casual / Social Media
子どもの頃スプーンで食べてたご飯を箸で食べられるようになったの嬉しかったな 大人になった感じ
Kodomo no koro supuun de tabete ta gohan wo hashi de taberareru you ni natta no ureshikatta na Otona ni natta kanji
I remember being so happy when I could eat rice with chopsticks that I’d been eating with a spoon as a kid. Felt like I’d grown up
Formal / Cultural context
「スプーン」は英語spoonの外来語であり、日本語在来語「さじ」（匙）を日常語用においてほぼ代替している。ただし計量単位としての「大さじ」（15ml）・「小さじ」（5ml）、および慣用句「さじを投げる」（担当を放棄する）においては在来語が保存されている。このような外来語による在来語の部分的代替・慣用的保存は日本語語彙史における典型的パターンを示す。
‘Supuun’ wa eigo spoon no gairaigo de ari, Nihongo zairai-go ‘saji’ (匙) wo nichijou goyou ni oite hobo daigaishite iru. Tadashi keiyou tan’i toshite no ‘oosaji’ (15ml) ‘kosaji’ (5ml), oyobi kanyouku ‘saji wo nageru’ (tantou wo houkisuru) ni oite wa zairai-go ga hozon sarete iru. Kono you na gairaigo ni yoru zairai-go no bubunteki daigai kanyouteki hozon wa Nihongo goi-shi ni okeru tenkei-teki pataaan wo shimesu.
‘Supuun’ is the loanword from English ‘spoon,’ having largely replaced the native Japanese word ‘saji’ (匙) in everyday usage. However, the native word is preserved in measuring unit terms ‘oosaji’ (15ml) and ‘kosaji’ (5ml), and in the idiom ‘saji wo nageru’ (to abandon responsibility). This pattern of loanwords partially replacing native words while the native form is preserved in idiomatic usage represents a typical pattern in Japanese vocabulary history.
The introduction of Western utensils into Japan during the Meiji era (1868–1912) followed a carefully observed social logic. Chopsticks remained the primary utensil for most Japanese foods, but specific Western foods — soup, coffee, desserts, curry — came with their appropriate utensils. This selective adoption meant that a standard Japanese meal setting might include both chopsticks and a spoon, each appropriate for different dishes served at the same table. Yoshoku (洋食 — Western-style Japanese food) restaurants made spoon-use standard for dishes like オムライス (omuraisu — omurice), ハヤシライス (hayashi raisu — hashed beef rice), and カレーライス.
さじを投げる (saji wo nageru — to throw down the spoon) is one of the most expressive idioms in Japanese. In traditional medicine, the doctor’s spoon was the tool for compounding and administering medicine — to throw it down was to abandon the patient as untreatable. This metaphor extended to any situation where someone gives up on helping another: a teacher giving up on a student, a parent giving up on a child’s behavior, a manager giving up on an employee. The idiom’s vividness — the physical act of throwing — makes it more expressive than simply saying ‘to give up.’
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