juku
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of juku
1980–85; < Japanese
Explanation
If you’re a student in Japan, you might attend a juku in addition to your normal school. A juku is a private school that usually prepares students for the entrance exams to get into prestigious high schools and universities. Students, or their parents, have to pay fees to attend a juku, which is often called a "cram school." Because attending a juku is in addition to attending regular school, classes take place in the evenings, on weekends, or during school holidays — which means a lot of school! In most juku, students get extra instruction in core academic subjects like Japanese, English, math, and science. While some juku focus on the arts or sports, the primary purpose of attending a juku is exam prep.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
After several rejections, we finally found a juku that would take us in.
From Salon • Jul. 15, 2018
There was also a sheet that listed the juku rules that included this entry: “If Sakura concludes that the mother is emotionally unstable, we will ask you to withdraw.”
From Salon • Jul. 15, 2018
The sports juku gave me a list of sixty things Taro should master.
From Salon • Jul. 15, 2018
Millions more go to other juku to prepare for college.
From Time Magazine Archive
Three afternoons a week she leaves again at 4:45 for a juku session that lasts from 5:10 to 10:00.
From Time Magazine Archive
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
