Questions tagged [animals]
動物. Japanese vocabulary for animals.
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What's the difference between "さけ" (sake) and "しゃけ" (shake)?
Today I saw onigiri claiming to contain "しゃけ" (shake). When I asked my friend what that was, she said it was the same as "さけ" (sake), "salmon".
So are these two just different readings of a kanji, ...
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2
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Kitten: 子猫 vs 小猫 vs 仔猫
Are there any differences (nuances or usage) when using prefix 子, 小 or 仔 for denoting young animals?
Examples:
Kitten: 子猫 vs 小猫 vs 仔猫
Puppy: 子犬 vs 小犬 vs 仔犬
Pony: 子馬 vs 小馬 vs 仔馬
Calf: 子牛 vs 小牛 vs 仔牛
...
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Is こんこん onomatopoeia for foxes?
I mentioned こんこん to a native speaker, and he hadn't heard it before.
Is こんこん the standard onomatopoeia for foxes? If not, what does the fox say?
- 16.2k
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2
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Non-distinguished animal pairs in Japanese
This is something I first noticed when I was at an aquarium in Japan (as evidenced in my examples) and continued to see ever since. There are certain pairs of animals, that while extremely similar, ...
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2
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When should I use「かも」 versus 「アヒル」?
My Japanese friend uses the work ｢アヒル」when referring to ducks in a public park. However, another Japanese friend uses 「鴨」（かも）in similar situations.
In English, as far as my limited knowledge of the ...
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1
answer
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What's the difference between "マグロ" (maguro), "ツナ" (tsuna), and "シーチキン" (shiichikin)?
It seems that there are (at least) three words for "tuna" in Japanese:
"マグロ" / "鮪" / "まぐろ" (maguro) - Seems to be the native name for the creature and used at least in sushi
"ツナ" (tsuna) - Seems to ...
- 15.2k
8
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2
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Why are dogs asked to 「おすわり」 instead of 「すわれ」
In the manga Inuyasha, the heroine Kagome acquires the ability to force the titular Dog-Yokai to fall over by saying 「おすわり」.
I figured this must be a typical dog training command, but I wondered why ...
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When a dog in pain whines or howls, is it 「泣いている」 or 「鳴いている」?
鳴く seems to be the bark, cry, etc. of animals, and 泣く seems to be crying, weeping, etc. of humans (at any rate, associated with pain, sadness, etc.). However, when a dog in pain whines or howls, which ...
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Meaning of ギャップ in the following sentence
Context: a couple is checking out the otters while visiting an aquarium.
Boy: 苗代【なえしろ】はカワウソが好きなの？
Girl: うん！動物で一番好き。食べる時とか時々ブサイクになるギャップがたまんないの。
What is the meaning of ギャップ in this sentence? ...
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1
answer
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What kind of organisms can be covered by 益虫, 害虫 or 虫?
I came across someone describing a Nihon yamori / gekko as a 益虫, and using "useful insect" in English. Gekkos aren't insects, but it made me curious what it actually does mean.
jisho.org only ...
- 16.2k
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1
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Why are some sharks named after birds?
Some sharks are seemingly named after birds:
great white shark: hoojirozame 頬白鮫 from hoojiro (meadow bunting)
sandbar shark: mejirozame 目白鮫 from mejiro (white-eye)
blue shark: yoshikirizame 葦切鮫 from ...
- 1,235
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2
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Does the use of 百足 as ateji for ムカデ come from calquing "centipede" (or a cognate)?
The English word "centipede" refers to basically the same type of disgusting creepy-crawly arthropod as the Japanese ムカデ. Sometimes, ムカデ is written in kanji as 百足. This is an obvious case of ateji (...
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Can そばかす be used to describe a pattern on dog face?
Are these 斑{ぶち} or そばかす?
Are freckles (そばかす) in Japanese limited to human? Would it be a mistake to describe a pattern on dog's face as そばかす?
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How to know when I should use katakana form words referring to animals, lesser creatures, or other organisms?
I know many words for animals are usually written in katakana in contemporary Japanese, even though kanji exist:
イルカ
クマ
And it seems some very common domestic animals I don't seem to notice written ...
- 15.2k
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votes
1
answer
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Can さん or 君 be used on animals?
In Mikan Enikki, the protagonist cat was referred to as ネコさん when his name was not known (e.g. Kikuko Kusanagi called him as such when she didn't know his name), and as みかん君 when someone else talked ...
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Counters for animals: 匹 vs 頭: roughly how big is "big" and how small is "small"?
I find the distinction between 匹 and 頭 is rather tricky, because it is based on the size of the animal in question, and size is very relative and varies greatly among animals, even within the same ...
- 1,235
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1
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Japanese for baby kangaroo
How would I describe a baby kangaroo in Japanese? Would I call it "ジョーイ" (katakana for "joey", which is used in English for pretty much any baby marsupial), or "子カンガルー" (literally baby-kangaroo).
The ...
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votes
1
answer
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Why is ネコ (cat) used in ネコ目 (Carnivora) while the order also includes the suborder イヌ亜目 (Caniformia)?
(The Japanese scientific classification for animals is explained a bit in this answer)
The English term Carnivora comes from Latin like most of the scientific terminology. It means simply "meat-...
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2
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What are the origins of the names of tanuki and kitsune noodle dishes?
Two of Japan's native wild animals are the きつね fox and たぬき raccoon dog.
Interestingly there are also noodle dishes apparently named after each. (Not containing the meat of those animals!)
The terms ...
- 15.2k
2
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2
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In daily conversation, frogs are called かえる not かわず, right?
I'm pretty sure that, in daily conversation, "frogs" are called かえる, right? Can someone please confirm this?
I know that "frogs" are also called かわず in this 諺{ことわざ}
井の中の蛙{かわず}
But, by definition, ...
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Are けもの and けだもの different types of beasts, or simply two variants of the same word?
Both けもの and けだもの are written in kanji as 獣, but is the beast with 'だ' inside more brutal than the one without 'だ'? Or are they simply two variants of the same noun, thus they refer to exactly the ...
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Meaning of "gkbrです"
I have noticed the usage of gkbrです in sentences not related to the G insect:
田中さんに掘り返されたことでgkbrです。
恐怖でgkbrですが続きテツヤ待機。
Does it mean "I am afraid and want to crawl under the furniture"?
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Octopus kanji: 章魚 vs 蛸 vs 鮹
I'm trying to determine the most appropriate kanji for タコ (octopus), and have come across three possibilities: 章魚, 蛸, and 鮹.
According to jisho.org, all three possibilities are read as たこ.
The Pocket ...
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Is there a kanji for panther?
I’ve been looking for it and haven’t found a clear answer, for example “豹” appears as panther in some pages but in others that translates to leopard, I’ve also seen “豹属” as panther
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1
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Is it right say 一人の人魚?
I composed one sentence.
一人の人魚は「彼は動いていない，死んだでしょう」と言いました。The mermaid said 'It seems he isn't moving, maybe he is dead'
Is it right to say 一人 about mermaids? If they are not humans, should I use special ...
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vote
3
answers
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Use of の + how to construct a phrase without it
First, this is my very first post here, and I am a complete newbie when it comes to the Japanese language. I have, however, been very interested in the Japanese language and culture: I have been doing ...
- 111
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1
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What sound does a monkey make?
What is the hiragana sound that monkeys make in Japanese (like わんわん for dogs)?
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1
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What do you treat as an animate and inanimate object when counting?
In Japanese animate and inanimate objects are treated differently.
For people:
the verb exist いる is used
the generic counter (一{ひと}つ, 二{ふた}つ, 三{みっ}つ, ...) cannot be used
the specific counter (一{ひと}人{...
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1
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Verbs for animal noises in Japanese?
This is specifically about verbs not onomatopoeia.
I understand that you can say 「（動物）は（音）という」, e.g. 「犬がワンという」。But beyond that I've come to two words 吠える and 鳴く, which both seam to be generalised ...
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1
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Is the term "mizudori" a color?
Is the term "mizudori" used to describe the color of water (light blue) or is it simply referred to as "water bird" or "waterfowl"? I've been doing some research ...
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What does 「フトアゴヒゲ」mean in 「フトアゴヒゲトカゲ」("Central Bearded Dragon" lizard)?
I'm guessing ヒゲ means hair, which makes sense since the lizard has "bearded" in its name. Not sure about the rest of the フトアゴ.
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2
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Nuance between いか and イカ? [duplicate]
Both mean squid but is there any difference between the use of hiragana or katakana?
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Is 動物語 a valid term for the sounds that animals make?
Animals make sounds and communicate. Is there a proper name collectively for these sounds?
