12

I have found a kanji in a manga I am attempting to read, that looks like this:

Unknown kanji

I have tried to find it in numerous dictionaries, and used multiple different methods. I know the third section is a radical, but the first isn't, and searching the third on it's own at WWWJDIC returns many results, but none of them are this one. Skip code has also been unfruitful. Handwriting has been challenging, because I'm not 100% certain on the order.

A friend suggested that it may be a kanji that is out of use, but used because the manga author thinks it's cool. I doubt it's slang, though, due to the context of being a formal statement.

The context is: 我輩はノイ＝クレザント(?)騎士である where the (?) is the character. It was written vertically.

I have stated the question as "How do I look up this kanji?" because I suspect I may get into this situation again.

Edit: The answer I have marked as correct actually contains the answer in the comments, so I've written it up here. It is actually a Google Chrome character font problem. The character did really appear in the dictionaries, but I couldn't recognise it because it was displayed incorrectly (Chinese instead of Japanese). Chrome doesn't check all the fonts on your computer like IE or FF, so I changed the standard fonts and it worked.

Improve this question
7

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
16

This character is pronounced 'kyoo' or 'kee'. It is the name of a highly-ranked title: 卿

Actually, you have correctly identified that the third section is a radical. Very Good. In this case, it is called ふしづくり. The character is actually listed under this radical: look here. So, don't give up. Try just a little bit harder.

Since you do not seem to have the necessary font installed on your system, I am adding a graphic capture of the character from the wikipedia page that I linked:

kyoo

By the way, this notification on the up right portion of the wikipedia page:

enter image description here

is telling that the character may not be showing up correctly if you do not have the particular setting. So, whenever you see it, you might want to suspect if you are actually seeing the right thing.

Improve this answer
18
  • Just the middle section is different. There is a small stroke that looks like an accent at the top of mine, but not on yours. At the bottom, the two strokes coming off the main vertical bar are perfectly horizontal, but in yours they are angled, and one is connected to the wrong stroke. The Wikipedia link you provide does not write the character large, so it looks similar, but enlarged, it is not the same. Also, I did not rely on a single source, and I say so in my question.
    – AlbeyAmakiir
    Jul 19, 2011 at 3:34
  • 4
    @AlbeyAmakir If it displays differently, then you do not have the font. In some font encoding, similar characters are often subsumed under a single character. The differences between Mainland Chinese, Hong Kong Cantonese, Taiwanese Mandrin, Korean, and Japanese are sometimes ignored.
    – user458
    Jul 19, 2011 at 3:54
  • 3
    @AlbeyAmakiir: Are you running Chrome, by any chance? Chrome is notorious for using Chinese glyphs (which can have slightly different stroke counts) in place of Japanese glyphs. Try accessing the Wikipedia page with a different browser, or force Chrome to display pages in a Japanese font, and see if that changes anything.
    – Derek Schaab
    Jul 19, 2011 at 17:44
  • 3
    @Pacerier: In Chrome, you have to change the global font setting to a font that uses Japanese-specific glyphs (such as Microsoft PMincho or PGothic, or Meiryo). Unlike Firefox, Chrome does not (yet) allow you to specify per-language fonts.
    – Derek Schaab
    Jul 20, 2011 at 12:17
  • 1
    Still, sawa's romanization is logical, and the same or similar schemes are used by a number of linguists. I don't think anyone in a position to be helped by this answer would be confused by it. In any case, when editing other people's posts, the most important rule is to respect the intent of the author, so in this case we should leave it as it is.
    – user1478
    Jun 5, 2014 at 17:20
8

It looks like a cross between

Kanji1

http://jisho.org/kanji/details/%E5%96%9E (喞)

and

Kanji2

http://jisho.org/kanji/details/%E5%8D%BF (卿)

I love the jisho.org kanji by radical lookup: http://jisho.org/kanji/radicals/

Improve this answer
2
  • Both the links point to the same one. But I know which ones you mean. I forgot to mention that I found those two already. Am I asking the wrong question? Is a cross between kanji a real thing that happens?
    – AlbeyAmakiir
    Jul 19, 2011 at 3:17
  • Fixed the link. I'm not sure, but it is telling that the middle radical in both based on 艮. So if you take the form in the first link and pop it in the second link you end up with the kanji in question. Best explanation I have so far.... looking forward to reading some of the follow ups on this one. :)
    – mletterle
    Jul 19, 2011 at 3:20
0

卿 - きみ Meaning: you, lord, secretary, state minister Not exactly sure if this is the right kanji, but I'm linking a software that I find is really good for looking up kanji: zkanji. I'm just not sure whether you're asking for help looking up kanji in general, or just this one.

Improve this answer
1
  • 2
    Welcome to the site! I'm not the one that downvoted you, but as a probable explanation; there are already two, more complete and more correct answers. You look like a new user. I wouldn't take the downvote too personally. Downvotes don't mean we think you're spam or a jerk, here (though the downvoter should have explained why they did it). A lot of new users expect this place to act like a forum, but it doesn't. For more info, you can check the help page or tour next to the search bar at the top. Also, that zkanji link is nice, thanks. :)
    – AlbeyAmakiir
    Jun 2, 2014 at 22:13
0

I think the most difficult part of looking up a Kanji is that you can't find any way typing it, and here a solution if you're using computer.

Most of Chinese and Japanese input method in Windows has handwriting input function, you can type a Kanji this way.

For example : Microsoft IME Japanese Input

Step1

enter image description here

Then you can just click on the Kanji as a input for search.

Improve this answer
3
  • One terrible weakness of this idea is that most IMEs require correct stroke order. Which is quite the deal-breaker for most foreigners studying Japanese when it comes to complex kanji.
    – virmaior
    Jun 5, 2014 at 11:23
  • 1
    With a bit of practice you can get the stroke order almost always correct as it follows some rules in most cases. Beginners can struggle though.
    – Szymon
    Jun 5, 2014 at 11:26
  • Stroke order in general isn't all that hard to learn, although I'd bet that most learners get stroke order wrong at least occasionally. (I know I do! :-)
    – user1478
    Jun 5, 2014 at 15:38

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .