Thursday, August 10, 2017

word choice - Difference between ビーフ and 牛肉


Is there a difference on how these two words should be used? I see 「牛肉{ぎゅうにく}」 used a lot more than 「ビーフ」, but I'm wondering if there is a certain context for each of the two words.



Answer



牛肉 is used nearly universally, but use ビーフ on a case-by-case basis where you know the name of the food uses this instead (ビーフ is often favored in names of dishes).




The two words are interchangeable in meaning, but that doesn't go to say that they're interchangeable in speech. Both ビーフ and 牛肉 mean the same thing, but these are used differently.


For the most part, 牛肉 is the standard word for cow meat (i.e. beef). At shops, in cooking books and so on, this is more common in the general sense.


In a non-general sense, ビーフ very often appears in names of dishes or types of beef. For example




神戸ビーフ


ビーフシチュー


ローストビーフ



Beef is restricted in usage mostly to names of foods, but never used commonly to refer to cow meat in general, for which 牛肉 is standard.


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