肉（にく、niku）
- meat

The Japanese word 肉 （にく, *niku*) primarily means "meat" or "flesh". It refers to the edible parts of animals used as food. It can also refer to the physical flesh of humans or animals. However, in most everyday contexts, it's used for meat that is eaten. The word encompasses various types of meat such as beef, pork, chicken, etc.

⚫︎牛肉（ぎゅうにく, *gyuuniku*) Translation: Beef ⚫︎豚肉（ぶたにく, *butaniku*) Translation: Pork ⚫︎鶏肉（とりにく, *toriniku*) Translation: Chicken

⚫︎肉 is used in daily conversation when talking about food, especially when referring to meat dishes. ⚫︎It is a common word, and you will encounter it frequently in restaurants, supermarkets, and conversations about cooking. ⚫︎You would use 肉 to order a meat dish or to describe the ingredients of a meal.

⚫︎The standard way to write 肉 is with the kanji 肉. ⚫︎The reading is にく (*niku*) in hiragana. ⚫︎The okurigana (the suffix hiragana) is not used, so you would write the word in isolation, or with other kanji to form compound words. For example, 牛肉（*gyuuniku* - beef).

⚫︎There aren't many direct synonyms for "meat" in the same way as 肉 in Japanese. The context usually determines the specific type of meat. ⚫︎While not a direct synonym, お肉（お肉, *oniku*) is a polite term for meat. The prefix お is often used to make a word more polite.

⚫︎The direct antonym isn't simple, as it depends on context. ⚫︎If talking about food, the opposite would be something like 野菜（やさい, *yasai* - vegetables) or 魚（さかな, *sakana* - fish). ⚫︎If referring to the physical body, a general antonym could be "skeleton" (although there isn't one single word for it).

今日の夕食は肉じゃなくて、魚にしよう。 ・Translation: "For dinner tonight, let's have fish instead of meat." ・Explanation: This sentence illustrates using 肉 in the context of choosing a different food item.

この肉は柔らかくて美味しいですね。 ・Translation: "This meat is tender and delicious." ・Explanation: This is an example of a complimenting the 肉.

⚫︎The kanji 肉 (niku) originally depicts a piece of flesh. The earliest forms showed an image of the fleshy part of the body. ⚫︎It has been used to mean "meat" since ancient times in Chinese, and this meaning carried over into Japanese.