I know some size adjectives like 小さい (small), 大きい (big), and 並 (normal). Does anyone have a list of other size adjectives: something that could describe things ranging from micro things like Legos to massive things like sky scrapers? My friend said that I can modify the three adjectives. Can you help me understand how that works?
There is something called "personal watermelon" in American supermarket term, which can get up to 2.2kg and can serve two people: size comparison (the top one), close up. I don't want to call it a 西瓜. Would 小さい西瓜 (small watermelon) work? I feel that using that combination may make people think it is so small only a few scoops and you are done. -- Answered in comments: 小さい西瓜 should work.
1 Answer
For tomatoes, there is プチトマト as opposed to ordinary トマト. For corns, there is ベビーコーン as opposed to とうもろこし. For cabbages, there is ミニキャベツ as opposed to キャベツ. Since the counterpart for watermelon is not popular in Japan (as well as in most countries), there is no word for personal watermelons that you mention. It you want to create a new word, you might want to try these that are along the same line: ミニ西瓜, プチ西瓜, ベビー西瓜.
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This might seem strange, but is it possible that 「竹の子」 could be included in that list?– ChrisCommented Jul 18, 2012 at 5:10
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@chris I am not aware of a small version of 竹の子. If you know the Japanese name for it, please edit my answer directly.– user458Commented Jul 18, 2012 at 5:43
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It just occurred to me that there seems to be a distinction between ミニ野菜 and ベビー野菜. The difference being that the first doesn't have the potential to grow any further where as the second is harvested early. So, can these actually be prefixes? Link:sakataseed.co.jp/special/mini– ChrisCommented Jul 18, 2012 at 18:18
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@chris I did not know that distinction. When I followed the link from your link to the list of their products, I saw that they have watermelon under ミニ, so probably it should be ミニ.– user458Commented Jul 19, 2012 at 0:02
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I think the writer of that site noticed an unofficial correlation that exists. I'm not sure how trustworthy it is, but it seems to make some sense.– ChrisCommented Jul 19, 2012 at 0:08
小さいすいかwould be interpreted by Japanese-speaking people the same way as "small watermelon" would be by English-speaking people. Which is to say, the exact size that will be inferred is dependant on context, nuance, and the listener.