Hot answers tagged homophonic-kanji
13
When you type in the word, many IMEs will also display a side dictionary with supplemental information. On my PC, for 川 is says: （一般的）川が流れる、川を渡る、三途（さんず）の川. For 河, it says: （限定的）（外国の）大きな川。→川.
Hence, 川 is general while 河 is limited in usage and typically represents (foreign) large rivers. In addition, 河 often refers to the Yellow River (黄河).
That being the ...
11
Before answering the question, I would like to clarify one thing: for most purposes, [物]{もの} and [者]{もの} are not two separate words, but a single word もの which has two kanji notations depending on its meaning. This is clearer when we consider compound words such as にせもの. When someone uses the word にせもの, it is not always clear even to the speaker whether it ...
10
父 and 乳 cannot be differentiated by pronunciation (including accentation).
While the word titi "father" is attested in Old Japanese (8th century), titi "breasts" is not extant until the 17th century. However, it is more complicated than that. titi "breasts" is a reduplication of ti "breasts" which is extant in OJ. Also, titi "father" seems to be a ...
9
To answer your second question---
When I'm talking on the phone and want to say how to write someone's name or address in kanji, I often say like;
1. 「[京子]{きょうこ}」の「きょう」は、「[京都]{きょうと}」の「[京]{きょう}」です。
2. 「[明日香]{あすか}」の「あす」は、「[明日]{あした}」で、「[香]{か}」は、「[香]{かおり}」です。
3. 「[聡]{さとし}」は、[耳偏]{みみへん}に「[公園]{こうえん}」の「[公]{こう}」と「[心]{こころ}」です。（or 「[聡明]{そうめい}」の「[聡]{そう}」です。）
4. ...
8
This page on alternative renderings of kanji compounds says that in order to simplify the kanji set, some compounds which contained uncommon kanji had components replaced with common homophonous kanji.
One set of changes was promulgated by the 国語審議会 in 1956, but the page also lists a number of changes which came into de facto use. 恰好→格好 is one such pair.
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8
My dictionary lists five uses:
上げる - moving something to a higher position / status
荷物を棚に上げる Put the luggage on the shelf
利益を上げる Raise profits
上げる - give or supply something
歓声を上げる Give a cheer
プレゼントを上げる Give a present
挙げる - indicate, or cause something to happen
手を挙げる Raise your hand
式を挙げる Hold a ceremony
揚げる - suspend in space, fry
国旗を揚げる ...
7
The nouns 早さ and 速さ are derived from the adjectival verbs 早い and 速い, which both can mean both "fast" and "early". Being derived from adjectival verbs, they are native Japanese words.
On the other hand, 速度 is a Chinese-derived word, which means "speed" or "rate" (and doesn't mean "earliness").
The kanji 早 is usually used for the sense of "early" and 速 ...
7
user1205935 is right but I just want to add a few things.
When I see 聴 my mind basically jumps first to 音楽を聴く. As mentioned this has the meaning of listening to something with some sort of interest in it. You might want to connect it to the word 傾聴, which means "to listen intently," or roughly that. Of course you can use 聞く in that sentence but that kanji ...
6
Let's put these in two conceptual buckets:
錆: This one's relatively common. It can be used to write the verb さびる, or the derived noun さび. Of the four, this is the only one I imagine you need to know. (Note that the lower-right element of 錆 can be written either 月 or 円.)
銹・鏥・鏽: These are a lot less common. 銹 and 鏥 both appear to be simplifications of ...
6
They do have differences in usage. I've gathered a few examples that, I hope, differentiate the meanings. First, I'll try to put them in English:
上る Go up
登る Climb
昇る Ascend / rise
But I don't know how helpful that is. Certainly there isn't a one-to-one mapping between those English words and those ways of writing のぼる. I think you'll get a better ...
6
deceze's answer may be correct (I do not know), but in present Japanese, 屋 means that it is a store whereas 家 puts more emphasis on the fact that it has been inherited for generations. For 屋, besides your example, it is often combined with the merchandise: 靴屋, 自転車屋, 魚屋, etc. 家 usually combines with the family name that is inherited.
6
In English and most other languages, words as part of spoken language and words as part of written language are in a 1-to-1 mapping. In Japanese, 漢字 are just a means for expression, and so there exist both many-to-1 (e.g. こんじつ & きょう -> 今日) and 1-to-many (e.g. みる -> 見る, 観る, 看る, ...) mappings.
To describe what 漢字 you have in mind, you usually give more ...
6
平行 can mean the same thing as 並行 in the second sense (物事が同時に行われる), so it does not encompass 並行 completely. For example, 電車と並行して走る should not use 平行 (although don't be surprised if you see the two mixed up). However, just look at the characters, the 並 of 並行 can be seen in words like 並ぶ while the 平 of 平行 can be seen in words like 平面. So, in general, 平行 is ...
5
I think 眼 and 樹 are restricted in usage:
樹{き} refers specifically to 立ち木 according to my 漢和辞典. Once you chop it down, it ceases to be a 樹. Although a standing tree can be 木 or 樹, a wooden object can only be made of 木, not 樹.
I also think that perhaps 樹 might seem a bit more literary or grandiose. I've mostly seen it used to refer to very large (still ...
5
The character most commonly used for rust is 錆 (written with 月 instead of 円 in the 漢字源 dictionary) and it originally meant:
1) 金属の澄みきった色 - the pure, clear color of metal
2) 金属の澄みきった音の形容。また、その音。- adj. describing a clear metallic sound, or n., the sound itself
But a misunderstanding of the Chinese caused people to think this character meant rust.
...
4
I think of the difference between 聴く and 聞く as the difference between "to listen" and "to hear". That is,
彼の話を聴いてる.
I'm listening to his story.
but
音が聞こえてる.
I can hear sounds.
大きい音を聞くと気持ち悪くなる。
If I hear loud noise, I start feeling sick.
(which are examples contrary to your animate/inanimate hypothesis).
Intentional listening should be ...
4
According to 大辞林, 水母 and 海月 are 熟字訓{じゅくじくん} ways of writing the same word. (See the angle brackets? Those indicate 熟字訓.)
熟字訓{じゅくじくん} readings are a type of 当{あ}て[字]{じ}. They're "word readings", where an entire kanji compound is given a reading. (Usually, readings are given to single kanji.) As Wikipedia explains, these are established word readings ...
4
錆 is the standard for 'rust' in Japanese (it appears to have a different meaning in Chinese)、although you may see さび in kana as it is not 常用
銹 is the Chinese for 'rust', and 鏽 a variant of it. 銹 does appear to be used in some words, like 銹病{さびびょう} in Japanese but it is not common (looks to me like wikipedia often replaces it with kana rather than using 錆).
...
3
I don't think タイピングすることの早さ is incorrect; it just sounds very strange, like "the speed of the act of typing" in English.
I think the の is more commonly left out when dealing with 熟語, while it's more, if not completely necessary when using 単語.
タイピングの速度 → "The speed of typing" (correct, but sounds a little stiff)
タイピング速度 → "Typing speed"
タイピング速さ → ...
3
I think it's pretty common, although not necessarily punning so much as just a play-on-words. I can't remember but a couple right now. I'll edit in more later if I remember them.
委員会【いいんかい】の許可を得た。びっくりして「いいんかい？」と答えた。 → I got the committee's permission. Surprised, I responded "(Is it) Really (OK)?".
A major station I used to frequent had a nearby ...
2
鏽, 銹 and 锈 are the same word in increasing order of simplification.
鏥 is the variant form of 銹
錆 is has a different meaning in Chinese.
None of them are in the list of 常用漢字, I would expect さび to be used instead of its kanji. In this case, it is not so important to differentiate them.
I surmise that any differences would be etymological, and obscure. And ...
2
If not, does anyone have a reasonable explanation for why 父 and 乳 have the same pronunciation
I do have one: the relatively limited number of words than can be made from composing the sounds of kanas. You are doomed to have either a lot of homophones, or a lot of very long words… I believe that evolution led to having shorter words with collisions ...
2
There are several words with a series of kanji like this. There is usually a common kanji used for the basic verb, in this case のぼる which is usually 登る.
The others becomes more clear in kanji compounds. When using jisho.org, search for kanji details, then click on "words containing" and look for what sorts of compounds the particular kanji is used in.
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1
is there an "official" position on 温い, 微温い, ぬくい and ぬるい?
"Official" according to whom? If you mean according to the standard dialect.
ぬくい is perfectly fine 標準語 although it is much more commonly used in other parts of Japan, which is why some people think it is 方言. Now, in my experience ぬるい is used to be negative, that something is not warm enough, so I ...
1
I haven't personally seen or heard ぬくい as often, though I know it is used occasionally. That's probably because it's a dialect, likely from the western part of Japan (according to this entry).
Since ぬるい and ぬくい are just different ways of pronouncing 温い and 微温い, I think it doesn't really make sense to put all four in order. Perhaps it is the difference ...
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