漢字: Chinese characters as used in Japanese writing as opposed to the two kana syllabaries and romaji Latin letters.
6
votes
1answer
333 views
What’s an authoritative source for a complete list of official shinjitai kanji?
I found quite a few website tables and software conversors, but none that was both complete and authoritative. Is there any place I can find such a list in digital format?
拡張新字体 would be a nice ...
11
votes
2answers
259 views
What exactly is 「だらし」?
WWWJDIC states that 「だらしない」 can be written with kanji as 「だらし無い」, which suggests that the phrase is a negative construction that uses 「無い」, unlike words like 「すくない」 and 「あぶない」. Furthermore, 「だらしが無い」 ...
7
votes
3answers
1k views
Can I write Japanese name “Midori” this way - 緑?
There is female Japanese name "Midori," and I want to know the ways I can write it. I know it means "green," but maybe the name and "green" are different words sometimes.
I used google-translator to ...
4
votes
6answers
715 views
What Does 火信 Mean?
I saw 火信 tattooed on a gentleman's neck. I looked up the words, but couldn't make sense of their combination...
What does it mean?
5
votes
4answers
149 views
Kanji 行 with なみ, なめ, みち and アン pronunciations
I have only found 行 being pronounced as いく, ゆく and おこなう for kun'yomi and as コウ and ギョウ for on'yomi, but my dictionary software also lists down なみ, なめ, みち and アン as the other pronunciations of this ...
10
votes
2answers
266 views
Etymology of 土産 {みやげ}
The pronunciation "みやげ" does not correspond to on'yomi nor kun'yomi of 土産, so I thought it was a gikun (義訓), but the combination of kanji 土 and 産 does not seem to provide the meaning of "souvenir" ...
12
votes
4answers
364 views
The significance of 前 {まえ} in Japanese language and culture
I noticed that the 前 is a handy kanji character in Japanese language. It is used in many words including but not limited to:
名前 {なまえ} : Given name
手前, お前 : You
当たり前 {あたりまえ} : Natural, ...
10
votes
2answers
354 views
Recent creation or adoption of hanzi characters into Japanese kanji
According to Wikipedia, kanji was introduced and imported from chinese hanzi long time ago before Japanese language even had a writing system. From there, Japanese kanji has transformed and evolved ...
9
votes
2answers
312 views
do people actually respect the nuances of 探す vs 捜す?
Part 1
I understand 探す to be to search for something (general)
and 捜す to be to search for something lost
But do people actually care about the difference in nuance when they use it?
I mean do ...
9
votes
4answers
237 views
How to understand 抄 in Japanese?
In the names of cartoon movies 桜花抄, 百鬼夜行抄, what's the special meaning of 抄? Kind of synonym of 物語?
9
votes
2answers
397 views
How do I look up this kanji?
I have found a kanji in a manga I am attempting to read, that looks like this:
I have tried to find it in numerous dictionaries, and multiple different methods. I know the third section is a radical, ...
4
votes
3answers
185 views
Is 門 read as かど or もん?
Is it more common to read 門 as かど or もん?
e.g. how would we pronounce the 門 in 彼らは門が開くのを待っていた。
11
votes
3answers
398 views
不 and 非 and 無 and 未 usage difference/rule
Is there any rules that govern when to use 不 and 非 and 無 and 未 in regards to the meaning of "not" or "un-"
for instance 非表示, 不満
6
votes
1answer
147 views
regarding the kanjis 嗚呼; 於乎; 於戯; 嗟乎; 嗟夫; 吁; 嗟; 噫; 鳴呼
This question has 2 parts.
Why is it that ああ has so many different kanji 嗚呼; 於乎; 於戯; 嗟乎; 嗟夫; 吁; 嗟; 噫; 鳴呼 (source)
and is the average japanese (16 yr old and above) able to recognize them all?
9
votes
1answer
351 views
Which is the “official” kanji for さい, 歳 or 才 ?
Well if I'm not wrong, usually when a word has multiple kanji's one of them is selected as the "main" or more commonly used one.
But is it true that both 才 and 歳 are both the "main" kanji for さい?
11
votes
6answers
370 views
Computer: 計算機 or 計算器?
What is the difference between the two kanji variants for 「けいさんき」, the other word for 「コンピューター」?
計算器
計算機
6
votes
2answers
177 views
What is the difference between 蔵, 倉, and 庫?
The word 【くら】 can be written with any of the kanji 蔵, 倉, or 庫. However, WWWJDIC lists them all under one entry, defined as:
(n) warehouse; cellar; magazine; granary; godown; depository; treasury; ...
11
votes
2answers
389 views
Why is 空【くう】, and not 無【む】, used to define “void”, “emptiness” in a buddhist context? What are their nuances?
Feel free to participate to the meta-discussion on whether this type of question (relying on buddhist terms) should be allowed on JLU.
A while back, looking at a reproduction of some famous zen ...
5
votes
1answer
106 views
What is the usage of 先 vs. 元?
I think that the both of them mean before, but I have seen that they are sometimes use in parent-child metaphors, but I always get confused with these.
Some examples of ○○先、○○元 words would be ...
9
votes
2answers
179 views
What's the difference between 迷う and 紕う?
I was looking in a dictionary and both were listed as being defined as "to lose one's way, to hesitate, or to waver," but I don't understand why there are two different kanji for the word.
16
votes
2answers
398 views
When and how did USA and UK come to be written as [米]{べい}[国]{こく} and [英]{えい}[国]{こく}?
I know of four countries with a specific kanji besides Japan: China, the Netherlands, the USA and UK. The last two must be quite recent (I presume 19th century) but I wonder on the details and context ...
11
votes
4answers
203 views
History of 十干（じっかん）and modern uses
As I was studying vocabulary today, I happened to come across the titular 十干 which are as follows:
甲（こう）• 乙（おつ）• 丙（へい）• 丁（てい） •戊（ぼ）• 己（き）• 庚（こう）• 辛（しん）• 壬（じん）• 癸（き）
There's a somewhat lengthy ...
15
votes
1answer
173 views
How did 革 “leather” come to mean newness?
How did the word 革{かわ}, 革{カク} "leather" acheive the meaning "newness"? 広辞苑 lists one of the definitions (under かく) as "あらたまること, あらためること", and we can see this in some of its associated 熟語: 変革, 改革, 革新. ...
7
votes
3answers
307 views
Is 日語 a good two-kanji stand-in for 日本語 (“Japanese language”)?
This is a bit of an ad hoc question, but still should be well within the scope of JLU, so here goes:
While trying to come up with ideas for our new logo in the meta group (subliminal message: go and ...
3
votes
1answer
186 views
What is the meaning of 人児, and is it a compound?
There's this rather unpleasant sign on a restaurant that says:
中国人＆帰化人、残留孤児、中国系混血人児、絶対入店禁止、純血日本男児のみ。
Putting aside the racist content, from a linguistic point of view, the one word that throws ...
9
votes
3answers
315 views
Nuance, usage and etymology of お[出]{い}で
I observed in drama and anime (being outside Japan, those are my only ways of keeping in touch with spoken 日本語) that elder people sometimes say お出で to younger people when they want to say something ...
5
votes
1answer
201 views
What are the Japanese terms for “character dictionary”? “漢辞海”? “漢字典”?
I'm looking for a cheap secondhand character dictionary in Japan but:
I don't know if there is one or more kind of these, and I don't know what they are called.
Two I saw had these on their spines, ...
12
votes
1answer
565 views
Words/characters for fast food meal sizes: 並, 大, 特
When dining at Yoshinoya I never know how to ask for the size meal I want.
Their sizes are 並, 大, and 特.
I only know that "大" means big, but it also has two readings so I have no idea whether to ask ...
10
votes
2answers
226 views
What's the difference between 悪 and 惡 ?
I'd like to know what the difference between 悪 and 惡 is. And also what usage you should do between both.
I heard that they both mean "bad"
10
votes
5answers
599 views
Is there an objective source of the origins of kanji?
Is there an authoritative source that explains where the different kanji come from and what the radicals mean? I think it's hard to tell from most of the textbooks/other sources whether a shown ...
3
votes
3answers
526 views
森 vs 林 for forest
According to A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters, 森 (38) is woods and 林 (75) is forest.
But some material I've found online related to Japan seems to indicate 森 is the more correct Japanese ...
6
votes
8answers
460 views
The many ways to write {かっこいい}
Apparently there are so many ways to write {かっこいい}.
Hiragana/katakana only:
かっこいい
カッコいい
カッコイイ
EDICT:
格好いい
かっこ好い
Other possible variants:
格好良い
かっこ良い
カッコ良い
格好好い
恰好いい ...
8
votes
4answers
418 views
How can I learn and recall okurigana?
As time goes on in our age of increasing reliance on computerized kanji input, this question may become increasingly irrelevant, but when I'm writing a sentence with (gasp!) pen and paper, I have ...
12
votes
2answers
452 views
Some questions about radicals
Are there certain rules for knowing what role plays a radical in a kanji? I've heard sometimes one radicals tells us about how to read the kanji and other radicals tells us the meaning of the kanji ...
6
votes
2answers
371 views
Significance of the kanji 茶 in the set phrase 滅茶滅茶{めちゃめちゃ} / 目茶目茶{めちゃめちゃ}
While having fun looking up random words in my dictionary software, I found out that the phrase "めちゃめちゃ", which is often used in colloquial sentences like "めちゃめちゃかわいい" has two kanji variants:
滅茶滅茶
...
7
votes
1answer
744 views
Common 四字熟語 that use/are 当て字
Are there any commonly used known 四字熟語 that use/are 当て字 besides the following? Just crossed my mind, and now I'm curious.
滅茶苦茶 (めちゃくちゃ), 夜露死苦 (よろしく), 無理矢理 (むりやり)
11
votes
3answers
861 views
About writing numbers using Japanese numerals vs using Arabic numerals
I noticed that even though Japanese language has kanji characters for numbers (e.g. 十、百、千、万 etc), there are many places where Arabic numerals are used instead, for example, prices for shop items are ...
12
votes
2answers
664 views
Which kanji to use for saying ありがとうございます in emails?
When sending emails, I've noticed that Japanese colleagues use all sorts of kanji/kana combinations for the simple phrases ありがとうございました and よろしくおねがいいたします.
For example:
ありがとうございました
有難うございました
...
9
votes
1answer
221 views
On the replacing of kanji obsoleted in the 1946 reforms with similar-looking kanji.
This is my understanding but please correct me if some of my details are wrong:
In 1946 the Japanese language underwent a reform and standardization process
A subset of kanji (about 1850) were made ...
7
votes
2answers
190 views
Why are furigana for number kanji almost always omitted?
Here's an example sentence from 北斗の拳 which uses a fair amount of furigana throughout.
xxxに残された命は三日...
Which includes furigana for のこ, いのち, and, bafflingly, even the か of 日, but none for 三. While ...
7
votes
3answers
664 views
What are the differences/characteristics between katakana, kanji and hiragana?
I already know that romaji is the conversion from those to the roman alphabet, so which are the differences or characteristics between those?
Are they used on a different context? Is one of them more ...
7
votes
7answers
697 views
What are the advantages/disadvantages of writing in romaji instead of kanji, hiragana, and so on?
Romaji is somewhat of a conversion from kanji, hiragana, and so on to the Roman alphabet.
What are the disadvantages of learning only or mostly romaji aside from being unable to read/write in kanji? ...
17
votes
4answers
377 views
What are the origins of ヶ?
The ヶ in e.g. 一ヶ月 is a bit of an odd character - it looks a lot like a small version of the katakana ケ, but is it derived from that katakana originally? Or is it a normal kanji? Or is it something ...
11
votes
4answers
549 views
Are there any old loanwords from Korean, especially any not written in katakana?
Given the close proximity and long history of interaction of various kinds within East Asia, the great influence of Chinese in both Japanese and Korean, and the similar structures of Japanese and ...
17
votes
4answers
2k views
What is 「々」 and how does it affect meaning and pronunciation?
I've seen this symbol in various places, such as 「日々」, 「色々」, and 「人々」. What is it, and how does it affect the meaning and pronunciation of the word?
12
votes
3answers
568 views
Why is 「昨夜」 pronounced as 「ゆうべ」 {yuube} and 「今日」 as 「きょう」 {kyou}?
「ゆう」 is neither the kun'yomi nor on'yomi of 「昨」 and 「べ」 is not a pronunciation of 「夜」 either. The same can be said about the pronunciation 「きょう」 for 「今日」.
So how come the pronunciations of the two ...
14
votes
2answers
423 views
Use of 厨 on the Internet
If you visit ニコニコ動画 or any Japanese message boards often you are bound to see comments like ニコ厨 or 東方厨. Does anyone have good idea how did this originate and what do they mean?
17
votes
3answers
373 views
Stroke order for left and right
Why are the stroke orders for 右 and 左 different?
右 starts with the vertical stroke, and 左 starts with the horizontal one.
20
votes
6answers
502 views
Why are some lyrics' words written in kanji whose usual reading is not how it is sung?
Some song lyrics in the official lyric book that accompanies the CD is sung as another word. Usually, the way it is sung is given as a furigana on the kanji:
Written: 君が希望に変わってゆく
...
9
votes
2answers
255 views
About ご[馳走]{ちそう}: two “runs” would give you “a feast”?
ご[馳走様]{ちそうさま}でした is the greeting that people say after being treat a meal while ご馳走 by itself means “a feast”.
I looked up this word in the dictionary to learn more about the kanji characters. It ...
