noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
Received-Pronunciation:so͝odō'ko͞o
Received-Pronunciation:so͝odŏ'ko͞o
Received-Pronunciation:so͝odo͞o'ko͞o
Received-Pronunciation:/sʊˈdəʊku/
Received-Pronunciation:/sʊˈdɒku/
Received-Pronunciation:/sʊˈduːku/
Received-Pronunciation:/sə-/
Received-Pronunciation:/suː-/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
Canada, US:so͝odō'ku
Canada, US:so͝odŏ'ko͞o
Canada, US:so͝odo͞o'kō
Canada, US:so͝odo͞o'ko͞o
Canada, US:/sʊˈdoʊku/
Canada, US:/sʊˈdɑku/
Canada, US:/sʊˈdukoʊ/
Canada, US:/sʊˈduku/
Canada, US:/sə-/
Canada, US:/su-/
India:so͝odō'ku
India:/sʊˈɖoː.kuː/
Received-Pronunciation:so͝o'dōko͞o
Received-Pronunciation:so͝o'dŏko͞o
Received-Pronunciation:so͝o'do͞oko͞o
Received-Pronunciation:/ˈsʊdəʊku/
Received-Pronunciation:/ˈsʊdɒku/
Received-Pronunciation:/ˈsʊduːku/
Received-Pronunciation:/ˈsuː-/
Canada, US:so͝o'dōku
Canada, US:so͝o'dŏko͞o
Canada, US:so͝o'do͞okō
Canada, US:so͝o'do͞oko͞o
Canada, US:/ˈsʊdoʊku/
Canada, US:/ˈsʊdɑku/
Canada, US:/ˈsʊdukoʊ/
Canada, US:/ˈsʊduku/
Canada, US:/ˈsu-/
1
noun
Meaning 1
A type of pencil puzzle played on a square grid, requiring each of the columns, each of the rows, and each of the subregions (called "boxes" or "regions") to contain the lowest whole numbers up to the dimension of the puzzle, usually 1 to 9, once each. The subregions are rectangular or square except in variants.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
Topics: games
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: Number Place
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
a number puzzle in which the numbers 1 through 9 must be placed into a grid of cells so that each row or column contains only one of each number
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: puzzle, puzzler, mystifier, teaser
History
Etymology
Etymology tree Japanese 数(すう)字(じ) (sūji) Japanese は (wa) Japanese 独(どく)身(しん) (dokushin) Japanese に (ni) Japanese 限(かぎ)る (kagiru) Japanese 数独 (sūdoku)bor. English sudoku Borrowed from Japanese 数独 (sūdoku).
Across languages
Translations
26 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Arabic:
سُودُوكُو
(sūdūkū)
— a puzzle using numbers
Chinese Mandarin:
數獨 /数独
(shùdú)
— a puzzle using numbers
Danish:
sudoku
— a puzzle using numbers
Dutch:
sudoku
— a puzzle using numbers
Esperanto:
sudoko
— a puzzle using numbers
Finnish:
sudoku
— a puzzle using numbers
French:
sudoku
— a puzzle using numbers
German:
Sudoku
— a puzzle using numbers
Hebrew:
סודוקו
(sudóku)
— a puzzle using numbers
Hindi:
सुडोकू
(suḍokū)
— a puzzle using numbers
Hungarian:
szúdoku
— a puzzle using numbers
Indonesian:
sudoku
— a puzzle using numbers
Irish:
súdócú
— a puzzle using numbers
Italian:
sudoku
— a puzzle using numbers
Japanese:
数独
(sūdoku)
— a puzzle using numbers
Japanese:
ナンプレ
(nanpure)
— a puzzle using numbers
Japanese:
ナンバープレース
(nanbā purēsu)
— a puzzle using numbers
Korean:
스도쿠
(seudoku)
— a puzzle using numbers
Polish:
sudoku
— a puzzle using numbers
Portuguese:
sudoku
— a puzzle using numbers
Russian:
судо́ку
(sudóku)
— a puzzle using numbers
