Questions tagged [definitions]
定義. The precise meanings of Japanese words or phrases.
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What's the difference between 今日{きょう} and 本日{ほんじつ}?
I also see both in different examples.
As in :
今日は暑い。
本日はおめでとうございます。
Both are translated as "Today", but when and how should I use either one?
Can we say : 本日はあつい。 And 今日はおめでとうございます。?
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Does "敬語" (keigo) just mean "politeness" or is it a technical term specifically relating to Japanese grammar?
What is the difference between the Japanese term "敬語" (keigo) and the English term "politeness" (Specifically regarding language)?
I assumed politeness is more general covering things like "please" ...
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Aren't がる and たがる the same thing?
In my JLPT practise book, it has two different entries, one to explain がる and one to explaining たがる. It offeres these example sentences to differentiate them:
うちの子{こ}は新{あたら}しいものを見{み}ると、すぐほしがる。
...
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How do I know when to read the kanji 抱 as 「だ・く」, and when to read it as 「いだ・く」, or even 「うだ・く」?
This sentence was in a grammar textbook:
彼{かれ}は同僚{どうりょう}にライバル意識{いしき}、ひいては殺意{さつい}すら抱いていた
... it means:
"He regarded his colleague as a rival, even to the point of
considering murder."
My ...
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"雷{かみなり}" is thunder, or lightning, or both?
In daily conversation, " 雷 " means both the lightning and the accompanying thunder as a single phenomenon, right?
At night, I sometimes see lightning on the horizon, but no thunder. That is 雷, right?
...
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Does ごめん really mean sorry?
Normally ごめんなさい is translated as sorry or excuse me, but that seems like a translation for non-native speakers. In the same way, しつれいします can also be translated as excuse me or pardon me. But it really ...
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Use of する to describe one's colour
From Japanesepod101:
象は灰色をしている。
The elephant is gray.
The meaning of the sentence is not in doubt but I've been trying to figure how する is being used here. Checking a dictionary, definition 2エ might ...
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How can you figure out whether 鍵【かぎ】 means "lock" or "key"?
Recently, I forgot whether 鍵【かぎ】 meant lock or key, so I looked it up quickly on my phone's dictionary... And then I found out that it actually means both.
What are the best ways to figure out if ...
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森 vs 林 for forest
According to A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters, 森 (38) is woods and 林 (75) is forest.
But some material I've found online related to Japan seems to indicate 森 is the more correct Japanese ...
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Meaning of 〜あれだ
_____ってあれだよね
What is あれ in this context? Is the speaking making a positive or negative statement about _____?
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What is the meaning and root of 意味くじピーマン?
Recently a friend of mine threw the term 意味くじピーマン (imi kuji pi-man) into a story she was telling, and it totally threw me off. At first I thought, because I wasn't sure how to parse the くじ part, it ...
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What is Bowser saying in Super Mario RPG? よって！ (includes picture)
I'm watching a YouTube video that helps learn Japanese through Mario RPG found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRBRLmhFy-4
I think Bowser is saying something like "I hate how you always ...
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What does てやる mean when it is not used for giving?
Okay, according to the (monolingual) dictionary that I use, てやる is used to indicate "doing something with strong will or determination" (my translation) e.g. 飛び降りてやる！ But this definition ...
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Fun with synonyms - "eternity"
What are the differences among the following two-kanji words that seem to mean "eternity":
永遠 {えいえん}
永久 {とわ}
永世 {えいせい}
永代 {えいたい}
永劫 {えいごう}
永永 {えいえい}
久遠 {きゅうえん}
悠久 {ゆうきゅう}
恒久 {こうきゅう}
恒常 {こうじょう}
長久 {...
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What does とな mean (and how do I use it)?
I came across this on Twitter, it seems to be mostly a question but sometimes an exclamation. Is it とは, or maybe とか? How do you use it? My dictionary has a とな as word that come at the end of a ...
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Difference between 創立、設立、樹立
Can anyone explain the difference between the words 創{そう}立{りつ}, 設{せつ}立{りつ} and 樹{じゅ}立{りつ}? They all basically mean "to set up / to found", and from what I've researched, it's all very 微{び}妙{みょう} to ...
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Does タメ語{ご} mean "casual speech"?
A debate came up on the use of タメ語{ご} in this question, and I thought it was worth its own analysis.
The question is, does タメ語 simply mean "casual speech", or does it mean "speech between equals". Or ...
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Does 髭 refer to the beard or the moustache?
My dictionary lists 髭 as moustache / beard, but from the example sentences in WWWJDIC, it seems like 髭 is more often used to mean "beard" than "moustache" ?
So for example, in this sentence: ...
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のか - Particle "lamenting reflections on the preceding statement". What?
I've come across this sentence in my manga.
そ そうか そういう疑いを持っているのか
It's actually fairly easy, but the particle at the end has confused me. I thought it was the two particles の and か, but then I saw ...
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what does 自己PR mean？
I keep coming across this word often 「自己PR」when looking at applications. I'm not sure what the "PR" part means in Japanese, but in English it usually means "public relations". What does this word mean,...
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Can "みたい" mean "want to see"?
Can "みたい" mean "want to see", or does it always mean "looks like"/"seems like"? If not, how would "want to see" be expressed?
Specifically, assuming it has both uses, it would seem ambiguous to me ...
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What exactly is ありき?
I think from looking up ありき that it means "based on", but it's usage is unclear to me.
I've come across it in these two examples:
まずは結論{けつろん}ありき
Which I think means "the conclusion is based on ...
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How to tell whether a building is マンション or アパート
Given a building, how to classify it as マンション or アパート?
Non-subjective set of criteria preferred.
In particular, if there is any legal definition of these terms that would be the best.
I used to ...
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I can't stand 立つ【た・つ】: Do all its meanings derive from "stand"?
I have an issue with the word 立{た}つ, which is that I get it's basic meaning is "to stand", but I see it used in all sorts of ways that don't make sense to me.
Here are some examples, from various ...
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The different meanings of "life"? 生気／生活／ライフ／生命／一生／人生／命
I was looking through a dictionary and came across 生活. My original question was
Is this the difference between 生気／生活?
生気 would be like an idea of life. more abstract
生活 would be concrete. ...
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Ancient practise of sneaking into women's bedrooms...?
I was looking up the meaning of スマ婚{こん}, when my mouse happened to roll over the kanji 婚{こん}, and this definition popped up in Rikaichan:
婚 よばい ancient practice of creeping at night into a woman's ...
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Does 「えらい 」also mean "terrible"?
For over a decade of speaking (poorly) and listening to Japanese, it seems to me that I have almost exclusively heard the word えらい in the sense of meaning "admirable".
For example, I'd mention ...
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Relation between 大学, 学校 and 大学校
These are the specifications, that I do already know:
[学校]{がっこう} = school, including [小学校]{しょうがっこう}, [中学校]{ちゅうがっこう}, etc.
[大学]{だいがく} = university (used frequently)
[大学校]{だいがっこう} = university (not a ...
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What's the difference between 世間{せけん} and 世界{せかい}?
Both 世間{せけん} and 世界{せかい} seem to mean "world" in the sense of "a sphere of human activity or interest", or "a particular way of life", and that sort of thing. (As opposed to 地球{ちきゅう}, the literal ...
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Why is this 理由 【りゆう】 given the furigana わけ?
It might be hard to read because of the image resolution, but on the cover of this book, on the bottom left side, it says:
へんな日本語にも理由がある。
Which means something like:
"Even strange Japanese has ...
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[潔]{いさぎよ}い meaning
Can anyone tell me more about 潔い? I've looked in Goo, Alc, Kenkyusha, and Edict, and the definitions refer to "sportsmanlike", "gracious", or "take it like a man". However, I'm doubtful if these are ...
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What does ただいま actually mean?
I was wondering what the literal translation really means. I've seen it translated as I'm home but I've also seen it in a few situations where the person wasn't arriving home.
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What is the exact definition of 泥棒?
In English:
a burglar is usually associated with someone who breaks into a house (victim is usually unaware during the burglary)
a robber is usually associated with that person who uses weapons and ...
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Fun with synonyms - “flattery"
What are the differences in the following words meaning flattery / to flatter:
お世{せ}辞{じ}
追{つい}従{しょう}
おべっか
胡{ご}麻{ま}をする
阿{おもね}る
諂{へつら}う
煽{おだ}て（る）
美{び}辞{じ}麗{れい}句{く}
Which ones are honest, sincere ...
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Is 風邪 more than common cold?
Two native speakers were chatting about what kinds of 風邪 can be cured by 抗生物質 (antibiotics). I linked to an English-language study showing that common cold can not be cured by 抗生物質. To which their ...
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Meaning of 見る in 「１日から２日は見て」
In this JLPT N1 listening practice transcript, a manager at a company is talking to his employee:
じゃ、お客様には、私の方からお詫びの電話を入れておくから。番号はこのメモの通りでいいんだよね。君は今すぐ管理部に連絡して、同じ商品の在庫があるか聞いてみて。...
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What is the meaning of 国の母?
I'm attempting to translate parts of my 完全マスター N2 textbook just for the practice, and even though I've already gotten past this section, the meaning of [国]{くに}の[母]{はは} still eludes me. I don't like ...
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Does なかなか (with negative verb) mean "by no means" or "considerably"?
WWWJDIC defines なかなか (with negative verb) as by no means
But shouldn't it have been considerably ?
By no means means 100% not
considerably means like 85% not
So does なかなか (with negative verb) ...
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What's the difference between 限界, 限り, 制限 and 限度
While 制限 seems rather straightforward, the others don't seem as easy to pinpoint to me.
What are the differences, and in which cases should I one over another?
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Where does the phrase 「ノリが悪い」 come from and what is the meaning?
What is this phrase 「ノリが悪い」? I've seen it in a few places, but I haven't been able to find it in a dictionary yet. I had first thought it meant that "the seaweed was bad".
What is the meaning of ...
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What does "夢プチ" mean?
I'm reading a manga in which a character mentions the following to another character:
今月の"夢プチ"見たよ
I'm assuming that "夢プチ" is a play on something but I can't find anything via Google. Both ...
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Why is ostracism called 村八分【むらはちぶ】?
While doing some reading of old questions, I stumbled upon the term 村八分【むらはちぶ】, which is apparently means ostracism. I'm curious what the 8 parts (八分) are and how this relates to ostracism.
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What's the difference between 理系{りけい} , 理科{りか}, and 科学{かがく}?
In my dictionary, 理系{りけい}, 理科{りか}, and 科学{かがく} are defined simply as "science".
What, if anything, differentiates them?
Especially in terms of the feeling or nuance when used in everyday ...
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ガードがばがばになっから meaning
I'm having trouble making sense of this sentence. From what I've looked up, I think it's probably either "meme" talk, a dialect joke, or some combination of the two. Here's the full sentence:
...
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What does it mean to be "over a law"?
I was a little confused after reading this on Wikipedia article for 宇部港, a harbor in Ube, Yamaguchi:
港湾法{こうわんほう}上の重要港湾...に指定されている。
I'm really not used to reading very technical writing, so there ...
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What does ウ○ク mean in ウ○クの方の、中○、韓○嫌いは異常。?
So, I was looking on OKWAVE, because I wanted to know if anyone is asking about xenophobia in Japan.
So there is a question asking, “外国人嫌悪症について、どう思いますか？” This can be translated as “What do you think ...
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What is おもぴろかった
Saw this on twitter:
@Daigo19780408 昨日はお疲れ様でした！おもぴろかったです♪( ´▽｀)
What does おもぴろかった mean? I find words like this all over the place on the net, but I can't figure out what it means, and I can't find ...
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What is the origin of, and how do I parse 絶対{ぜったい}領域{りょういき}?
絶対{ぜったい}領域{りょういき} is a slang term that refers to the visible bare skin from the bottom of a woman's skirt to the top of her thigh high stockings. Or, short pants and thigh high boots... pick your ...
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What does the word ゆける signify?
I have the sentence:
この国に生まれ老い、良かったと死んでゆける高齢化社会。
This is the first time I've seen 「死んでゆける」 or 「ゆける」. What does it mean? Is this a grammatical form? I also tried looking up more examples with 「ゆける」...
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