Hot answers tagged synonyms
13
火事 means "fire" like what you shout when a building is burning down. Or when we say "my house was lost in a fire", it's that "fire". The big kind that burns things it isn't supposed to.
火 is a more generic word for fire. It's what's on a candle or a torch or in a fireplace.
For your first sentence...it depends on if the fire is burning down your ...
12
Why are there so many terms for these generic words?
Most of them have defferent meanings. Some are used for Western royalty, Some are used for Chinese royalty.
王 - (in general) King e.g. アーサー王 King Arthur
王 - (in historical China and historical Asia) One of the titles of the loads in the Imperial China, or the King of the Imperial Chinese tributary ...
8
This is another one of those situations where depending on a simple English translation will cause you to lose a lot of important details.
If you look at the kanji the difference is pretty clear. 餌食 combines 餌{えさ} and 食 of 食べ物. 餌 means animal feed, and 食 is of course eat, so 餌食 becomes prey in the sense of something that an animal eats for its food, like a ...
7
You're right that 触れる can be used metaphorically, but 触る is normally reserved for physical touch only.
触る generally indicates a stronger, more intentional kind of "touch" than 触れる. From the other perspective, 触れる is often used to convey a sense of gentle or light touching, or even "brushing against" something.
Note that it's possible to use the particle を ...
7
I think the difference between 降参する and 諦める is the difference between "to surrender" and "to give up".
Giving up is more an emotional state of not having any hope left. Surrendering means that you "put down your arms", officially, but that doesn't necessarily mean you have given up hope.
In that sense, 降参する makes more sense in a formal context of two ...
7
What is the difference between 詰まらない and 詰らない?
As the comment indicates, it is possible that the first is tumaranai while the second is naziranai, the negative of the verb nazir-. While this is technically possible, it is not so simple. First, the kanzi for nazir- is not so common and few people will be able to read it. Second, tumaranai may be written ...
6
Just for reference, according to an online Chinese dictionary 烟 appears to be considered the simplified variant of 煙.
I don't think that the right-hand components have anything to do with the meanings here. Both of these look to have right-side phonetic components relating to their on-reading of エン. Other kanji using 因 have readings of イン or エン, as do other ...
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
This is an extension of Dono's response.
開始 contains two kanji, 開く meaning to open and 始まる／める which we know from Dono means begin. Not surprisingly, 開始 can take on either single character in certain circumstances. To demonstrate this I have posted some examples of how 開始 gets used as a verb with する from the Apple dictionary below. In general compound verbs ...
5
There are some slight differences, so let's let the dictionary do the explaining for us:
招待:
［名］(スル)《古くは「しょうだい」》客を招いてもてなすこと。催しなどに客として招くこと。また、人にわざわざ来てもらうこと。「祝賀会に―される」「―券」
招く:
１ 合図をして人を呼び寄せる。「手を振って―・く」
２ 客として来るように誘う。招待する。「歓迎会に―・かれる」
３ ある目的のために、礼をつくして来てもらう。また、しかるべき地位を用意して、人に来てもらう。招聘(しょうへい)する。「作家を―・いて講演会を開く」「ゲストに―・く」「教授として―・く」
４ ...
5
ほど is usually used as particle, whereas 程度 is a noun, e.g.
BほどAの程度は大きくない。
A's degree is not as high as B's.
ほど can be used as noun, but I would say 程度 is more common. The dictionary definitions show that the meaning is not that different (e.g. 大辞泉 has 許容される限度。 for 程度; 大辞林 has 許される程度。限度。 for ほど).
5
How about んだけど
彼が出て行けばいいんだけど。
あの建物さえなければ、きれいな景色が見えるはずなんだけど。
欲しいといえば、買ってあげたんだけど。
Maybe no real synonym, but it is also a conjunction with the rest of the sentence omitted. のに means "although" and けど means more "but", but I guess that is close enough.
In your last example せっかく…のに is a set phrase and のに can't be removed so easily.
I'm also wondering ...
5
The "correct" translation for 迷宮 is indeed "labyrinth" in the sense of the structure from ancient times, and it's basically from here that you get the real "differences" outside of medical terminology, etc. If you look on wikipedia there is a whole section devoted to the qualities that make a 迷宮 different from a 迷路. It might be an overly technical ...
4
I can think of two differences:
自分 can only be used for referring to singular, you can use 自ら for referring to a group of people.
Examples
社員たちが自らの力で組織内の問題を解決する。
子供たちが自らの力で未来を切り拓いていく。
自ら can have implied meaning of "not relying on others" or "by one's own will".
Example
自ら勉強する
自分で勉強する
In the above, 自分で simply means by "oneself". ...
4
'why do they exist' is kind of a strange question; why does any synonym exist? If you're asking for a 'difference' between the two expressions, then 父母 is a biological term implicating a biological mother and father, and 両親 is a social term-- an adopted child's parents are 両親, not 父母. Naturally, a non-adopted child's parents are 両親 as well.
As for 母親/父親, ...
4
Ignoring the details or minor exceptions, as a tendency: 概して, 総じて, (おし)なべて
概して/総じて/おしなべて、日本人は神経質で、アメリカ人は雑だ。
'Generally, Japanese are highly strung and Americans are coarse/sloppy.'
Generalizing: 一般に
4は2+2と表される。一般に、4以上の偶数は、2つの素数の和で表される。
'4 is expressed 2+2. In general, an even number that is four or greater can be expressed as the sum of two ...
4
Although 本日 will usually be too formal for most situations, there are many cases where you would use it over 今日 (with slightly different nuances).
Typically when referring to something tied to the day's date:
本日の魚 (in a restaurant)
本日の会議 (in a professional context)
etc.
4
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.
3
It's important to realize that there are two dimensions at play here. One is the "heartfelt" dimension, and the other is the "formality" dimension.
Both ありがとう and どうもありがとう are casual in the sense that you should only use them with people that you do not use 丁寧語 with. どうもありがとう shows more sincerity than ありがとう, but even (本当に)どうもありがとう would not be appropriate ...
3
This seems like a reach even to me, but here goes.
The dictionary entry for 吐【は】く that I'm seeing shows usages of 息などを出す and 胃／肺／口の中のものを口／鼻から出す. This seems to imply that the fire is inside of the thing (dragon, etc.) and is coming out. As opposed to the fire being generated at the "exit point" or externally (like just outside the dragon's mouth). Even in ...
3
The dictionary is unfortunately vague on this matter, but some discussion elsewhere on the web lends some clues to the nuance. These discussions say that やってくる, as you suggest, places more emphasis on the act of coming, but especially that the traveler came with some particular effort or purpose, or from especially far away.
From the second link:
...
3
As ssb explained, 獲物 means "game", or it should be translated as "target" especially in context other than actual hunting of animals. 獲物 is an target, so the subject not necessarily be weaker than speaker, or maybe even tougher. Also, 獲物 has nuance in uncertain or future, a state of being targeted rather than target already captured.
On the contrary, 餌食 may ...
2
Just one thing that I noticed about [両親]{りょうしん} and [父母]{ふぼ}・・・
We say ご両親 to mean "your(=the hearer's) parents", but we don't use 父母 here instead.
ご両親はお元気ですか。
*ご父母はお元気ですか。
So I think 両親 can be used in an honorific expression([尊敬語]{そんけいご}), but 父母 can't.
On the other hand, you can use either 父母 or 両親 to say "my parents".
いいえ。両親は去年他界しました。
...
1
やってくる is "(something) comes closer (from somewhere)", so it's slightly different from 来る and this gives rise to various nuances.
Your example, 友達がやってきた, gives me the feeling that your friend either showed up unannounced/unexpected, or dilly-dallied on their way. It wasn't a direct and simple "came".
Note that the やってくる you are describing is a unique word ...
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