感覚

• Reading: かんかく
• Romaji: kankaku
• Kanji breakdown: 感 (kan) — feeling, sense; 覚 (kaku) — awareness, perception
• Pronunciation: /kaɴ.ka.kɯ/

Meaning

Sense; sensation. The faculty of perceiving through the body or an intuitive feeling.

A noun that can also function with する in certain contexts. Covers both physical senses (五感, the five senses) and abstract intuition or feeling (金銭感覚, sense of money; 時間の感覚, sense of time). Often used to describe someone's innate ability to perceive or judge things, as in センスがいい (good sense) or 感覚が鋭い (sharp senses).

Examples

1. 寒さで指の感覚がなくなった。 My fingers went numb from the cold.
2. 彼女は色の感覚がとても鋭い。 She has a very keen sense of color.
3. 久しぶりに泳いだら感覚を思い出した。 When I swam for the first time in a while, the feeling came back to me.

Usage Guide

Context: daily life, art, health

Tone: neutral

Origin & History

Compound of 感 (kan, feeling/sense) and 覚 (kaku, awareness/perception). Together, 'felt awareness' — the experience of perceiving something through body or mind.

Cultural Context

Era: Modern

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal