Japanese word for element


I am trying to find Japanese word for element (as in five elements) and so far
I got two answers from google translate. It would be good to confirm from a
native speaker. One is Yoso and other is Soshi. Can someone please confirm do
they mean the same thing? Reverse translate of Yoso ( from Japanese to
English) says it means “some other place”. Any insights would be great.




"Youso" and "soshi" are both words that could be translated as "element", but
they probably don't fit the context you're looking for.

"Youso" (要素, which may sometimes be transcribed as "yoso" in romanisation
systems that ignore long vowels) means a single element or factor of a larger
whole. "Yoso" meaning "elsewhere" (他所, with no long vowel) is a completely
different word. "Soshi" (素子), meanwhile, is a very technical term referring to
an element of a mechanism.

Probably the best word for what you're looking for is "genso" (元素), which
refers to the classical elements like fire and water, as well as the modern
concept of chemical elements. There's also the word "zokusei" (属性), which
literally means "attribute", but is very commonly used to refer to elemental
alignments of the sort used in role-playing games and similar fantasy magic
systems.

As other commenters have said, relying on Google Translate for translations of
Japanese, particularly for individual words with no context, is generally a
bad idea and will lead you down the wrong path more often than not. Japanese
is a very different language from English, and most words don't have an easy
one-to-one equivalent. You're much better off using actual English-Japanese
dictionaries for that purpose, preferably ones that feature well-explained
definitions and/or example sentences, so that you can check that the word is
actually used in the sorts of contexts you're thinking of.




"Youso" and "soshi" are both words that could be translated as "element", but
they probably don't fit the context you're looking for.

"Youso" (要素, which may sometimes be transcribed as "yoso" in romanisation
systems that ignore long vowels) means a single element or factor of a larger
whole. "Yoso" meaning "elsewhere" (他所, with no long vowel) is a completely
different word. "Soshi" (素子), meanwhile, is a very technical term referring to
an element of a mechanism.

Probably the best word for what you're looking for is "genso" (元素), which
refers to the classical elements like fire and water, as well as the modern
concept of chemical elements. There's also the word "zokusei" (属性), which
literally means "attribute", but is very commonly used to refer to elemental
alignments of the sort used in role-playing games and similar fantasy magic
systems.

As other commenters have said, relying on Google Translate for translations of
Japanese, particularly for individual words with no context, is generally a
bad idea and will lead you down the wrong path more often than not. Japanese
is a very different language from English, and most words don't have an easy
one-to-one equivalent. You're much better off using actual English-Japanese
dictionaries for that purpose, preferably ones that feature well-explained
definitions and/or example sentences, so that you can check that the word is
actually used in the sorts of contexts you're thinking of.

