飲み会（のみかい、nomikai）
- drinking party

飲み会 means a drinking party or a social gathering where people drink alcoholic beverages, and often eat food. It's a very common social event in Japan. It can range from casual get-togethers with friends to more formal gatherings organized by companies or schools. The main focus is usually on socializing and building relationships, and alcohol is almost always involved.

⚫︎ 今週の金曜日に、飲み会があります。 Translation: There's a drinking party this Friday. ⚫︎ 会社の飲み会は、ちょっと苦手です。 Translation: I'm not very fond of company drinking parties. ⚫︎ 飲み会で、新しい友達を作りました。 Translation: I made new friends at the drinking party.

⚫︎ You can use 飲み会 to talk about any kind of drinking party. ⚫︎ It's used in both formal and informal contexts. ⚫︎ Often used to make plans, talk about past events, or refer to social gatherings. ⚫︎ Can be used as a noun, and sometimes in more casual settings, you might hear variations of it, such as 飲み (naturally abbreviated), but 飲み会 is more common.

⚫︎ The word is typically written as 飲み会 in hiragana and kanji. ⚫︎ 飲み (no-mi) means "drinking" or "to drink". ⚫︎ 会 (kai) means "meeting" or "gathering". ⚫︎ There are no other common ways to write this word. The okurigana is standard.

⚫︎ 宴会 (en-kai): This generally means "banquet" or "party". It can be used for 飲み会 but is more often used for larger or more formal gatherings. ⚫︎ 食事会 (shoku-ji-kai): A gathering focused more on eating than drinking, but alcohol can still be present. ⚫︎ There aren't many perfect synonyms, as 飲み会 has a very specific meaning.

⚫︎ There are no direct antonyms for 飲み会. However, words or phrases that describe non-drinking activities or events could be considered opposites. ⚫︎ It is difficult to define the opposite, as a 飲み会’s specific attribute is drinking.

明日は、大学の友達と飲み会に行く予定です。 ・Translation: I plan to go to a drinking party with my university friends tomorrow. ・Explanation: This sentence describes a plan to attend a social gathering with friends, highlighting the core concept of a drinking party.

部長は、飲み会でいつも面白い話をしてくれます。 ・Translation: The department head always tells interesting stories at the drinking parties. ・Explanation: This sentence describes the experience of a 飲み会 from the speaker’s perspective with a colleague, emphasizing its social aspects.

⚫︎ The word 飲み会 is a compound word. ⚫︎ 飲み (no-mi) comes from the verb 飲む (nomu), which means "to drink." ⚫︎ 会 (kai) comes from the verb 会う (au), which means "to meet" or "to gather." ⚫︎ Therefore, it literally means "drinking meeting" or "drinking gathering," which perfectly describes its function.