2

Is 筆順 a more professional sounding term?

Improve this question
1
  • 1
    While this can probably be answered as-is, providing the context/situation you'd like to use the term in would probably result in a more useful answer.
    – Darius Jahandarie
    Feb 9, 2015 at 23:59

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
7

IMHO, using 「[書]{か}き[順]{じゅん}」 does not sound childish per se. It is indeed in wide use across all age groups. It is when compared with 「[筆順]{ひつじゅん}」 that 「書き順」 could possibly sound slightly more informal, if not necessarily childish, but the difference is still fairly minimal.

The gap in formality and technicality between those two words is not as great as one might often expect to exist between an originally Japanese word and its Sino loanword counterpart. This is because 「書き順」 and 「筆順」 do not represent such a pair in that while the latter is a Sino loanword, the former is a hybrid, not a pure [大和言葉]{やまとことば} (with 書く being originally Japanese and 順 being a loanword).

I personally could not think of a situation where using one of these two words could sound considerably more formal, informal, adult-like or childish. If you have experienced such a situation, please do tell us.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

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