In English we have the words “Rat” and “Mouse” to describe two entirely separate animals. However, in Japanese, the only word I can find for either of these animals is “Nezumi”. The two species share this word. How would I convey in Japanese the difference between the two/How would I specify which animal I was talking about without visual reference? Are there other words that may apply to either a rat or mouse specifically over the other? Thank you!
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ドブネズミ or クマネズミ for rat
ラット
> In English we have the words “Rat” and “Mouse” to describe two entirely separate animals
The only reason you think of “rat” and “mouse” as inherently different is that English (and I’d guess your native language too, if it isn’t English) has two words for them
There are hundreds of species (not just two) that are referred to as rats or mice in English, and sometimes even both. Japanese simply has one word for all of those and doesn’t further classify species into mice and rats like European languages do