支持率（しじりつ、shijiritsu）
- approval rating

The Japanese word 支持率, pronounced しじりつ (shijiritsu), translates to "approval rating," "support rate," or "popularity rating" in English. It refers to the percentage of people who support a particular person, policy, product, or organization. It's a measure of how well something is viewed or accepted by the public or a specific target group. The higher the 支持率, the more support something has.

⚫︎ 首相の支持率 Translation: The Prime Minister's approval rating ⚫︎ 新商品の支持率 Translation: The new product's support rate ⚫︎ 政党の支持率が低下した。 Translation: The political party's approval rating declined.

支持率 is commonly used in news reports, political discussions, marketing analysis, and surveys. It is used when discussing the level of support or approval for a specific subject, especially in situations where public opinion matters. It is a very important word in understanding politics and business in Japan. You can use it in many different contexts. For example, politicians’ 支持率, product’s 支持率, and so on.

支持率 is typically written using the kanji 支持 (shiji - support) and the kanji 率 (ritsu - rate, ratio). The reading is しじりつ (shijiritsu). There are no other common ways to write this word, nor are there significant variations in the okurigana.

There aren't many direct synonyms, but related terms include: ⚫︎ 支持 (shiji) - support ⚫︎ 人気 (ninki) - popularity ⚫︎ 評価 (hyouka) - evaluation ⚫︎ 好感度 (koukando) - level of favorability (more about how well something is liked)

Antonyms are words that express the opposite meaning. ⚫︎ 不支持率 (fushijiritsu) - disapproval rate (the rate of disapproval, less common) ⚫︎ 不支持 (fushiji) - lack of support / disapproval ⚫︎ 不人気 (funinki) - unpopularity

その政治家の支持率は、最近下がり続けている。 ・Translation: That politician's approval rating has been continuously decreasing recently. ・Explanation: This sentence describes the declining approval rating of a politician, indicating a loss of public support.

新しいスマートフォンの支持率は、発売直後から非常に高い。 ・Translation: The new smartphone's support rate has been very high since its release. ・Explanation: This sentence indicates that the new smartphone has a high level of acceptance and popularity among consumers.

The word is formed by combining the verb 支持 (shiji), meaning "to support" or "to endorse," with the suffix 率 (ritsu), which means "rate," "ratio," or "percentage." Therefore, the literal meaning is "support rate" or "the rate of support." The creation of this word is related to the need to quantify and measure the level of public approval, especially in fields like politics and market research.