Questions tagged [definitions]
定義. The precise meanings of Japanese words or phrases.
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What does カピカ mean?
I can't find this word in a dictionary.
It appears on a bag of rice I bought. The sentence is:
カピカ仕上げで、丁寧に磨いたきれいなお米です。
Is it a contraction of カピカピ, describing how the rice is dried out?
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Does 日本茶 ''mean'' green tea?
I was having a discussion with a Japanese friend and she said that the word 日本茶 ''means'' green tea.
I have put the word ''means'' in brackets for emphasis.
I replied that surely 日本茶 means Japanese ...
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Should I include my step-siblings as 兄弟?
If I'm asked, "兄弟がいますか。" and my only siblings are a younger step brother and younger step sister, should/can I respond "はい、いもうととおとうとがいます。"? Do I need to specify but still answer in the affirmative? Or ...
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Expressing action of taking off
Like saying I'm going to take off my hat as in 帽子{ぼうし}を抜{ぬ}きます. I believe 抜{ぬ} "nu" means to get ride of or dispose of, but I guess I'm certain context it could mean to take off or remove. I'm ...
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Difference between ~によって and ~を通じて (through, by means of)
It seems that both ~によって and ~を通じて (sometimes ~を通して) can be used to mean "through", "by means of", "via". Both seem moderately but not very formal.
Are there any differences in nuance that dictate ...
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What does 見受ける mean?
I have found several related words that I think I have a better grasp of such as:
見掛ける・見て取る・認める
見掛ける is just simply visually seeing something
見て取る is close to 見て分かる, right? Seeing something that ...
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What are the nuanced usages of まず?
The following lines of dialogue is spoken by a girl to the narrative character in a book I'm translating.
「普通の人なら、あの状況{じょうきょう}ではまず間違いなくパニックになるわ。
自分の置かれた状況を把握{はあく}しようとして、混乱しているうちに殺されていたはずよ。
...
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Is there some functional difference between デマ and ガセ?
According to gogen-allguide.com デマ comes from the German demagogie, so it would make sense for it to be similar to demagogy in English. But demagogy is used for political things like false claims and ...
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Meaning of はいてなかったり?
I recently came across the phrase はいてなかったり which has me stumped.
For context, a character utters the phrase after dismissing the possibility of something:
Character: Oh, those guys? Yeah, they're ...
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What is meant by 実感が欠けていく here?
To add some additional context, the character appears to have family problems (particularly father problems). Her birthday is on Christmas, however her father never celebrates it with her.
I don't ...
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What does 迎える translate to in this context?
When 迎える is used in the sense of marking a special occasion or time, I have trouble translating it to English.
I imagined that 迎える always means to "welcome" "receive" "greet". But it can also take ...
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What does "gentle interrogative" mean?
While browsing Jishio.org, I come across this definition of こと. I tried googling "gentle interrogative Japanese", and found not much that explains what differentiates a "gentle interrogative" from ...
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What does “水着勿体ないんでよかったら今度のお休み” mean here?
水着勿体ないんでよかったら今度のお休み
Context: this girl sent this guy a picture of her in her swimsuit while she lay in bed because she just bought it and thought it was cute and just found out that her vacation ...
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What does ピクンッ mean?
I came across an image on Deviantart that has Japanese text written on it, so I am trying to translate it. You can see it here: https://www.deviantart.com/ryonapage/art/Dominated-710481249 (Warning: ...
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Difference between 泊まる and 留まる [duplicate]
I'm just studying Japanese, and i know that 泊まる is like you Staying a night like hotel / some place that temporary , but i just found 留まる is also meaning stay/staying too in Basic Kanji book , but i ...
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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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Any differences between 領収書 and 受領書?
First time asking a question here. I was curious if there is any relevant distinction between these two words that mean receipt: 領収書 and 受領書.
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Ambiguous use of 奥？
The standard english dictionary translation of 奥 is "interior" or "inner part". Being literal minded, I have had a hard time getting my head around its usage in a game I am playing.
館の手前にある壁か教会{...
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What does Ukiyo (浮世) mean?
I'm not very familiar with this specific term, but do know intermediate Japanese. "Floating world" seems to be a direct translation of the two characters: 浮 for "floating" and 世 for "world". However, ...
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I need help understanding 「虫が止まったみたいな扱いだ。」
I need help understanding this sentence,
虫が止まったみたいな扱いだ。
The Context is that the speaker is frustrated with what his conversation partner is doing/saying, but he is trying to help him as they have ...
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Difference between 防衛相, 防衛大臣 and 国防相
Reading a NHK NEWS article, I stumbled over three different expressions for minister of defence. Is there a difference between 防衛相, 防衛大臣 and 国防相?
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How to say "weeaboo" in Japanese?
What's the best translation of "weeaboo" in Japanese?
I would define a weeaboo as a (generally derogatory term for a) non-Japanese person who is highly interested in manga, anime, Japanese video ...
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I don't understand a definition of one of the meanings of 途方?
From goo:
１ 多くの方向。向かう方向。
「―を失へる敵どもを」〈太平記・一〇〉
I don't understand how 多くの方向 (that I think means "many directions") means the same thing that 向かう方向(that I think means "direction to ...
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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 does "ぶっ飛んだ" mean [duplicate]
I have looked up dictionary but i found only one meaning "jump".I think it has other meanings .Help me
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What does どぼり mean?
I know that it's an onomatopoeia, and it's an adverb that can take the と particle.
The context goes something like this. There is an object. The object in question is filled with a liquid. The object ...
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I can't understand anything in this sentence. Please help
I'm still a beginner learning japanese, so I'm sorry if this is just a stupid question. I was reading a manga and a character says:
だめ。シミが浮くとこ見てるから。
I can't understand what he means or what he's ...
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What does どしゅっ mean?
I'm reading through this one story where it takes place in the feudal era of Japan. Two men are travelling through a forest and carrying a secret letter. An army of female ninja try to sneak up on ...
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What does ヤラレ女/やられ女 mean?
I came across this term on the Internet. It is proving to be very tricky.
女 is not too hard. It can be translated as “woman”, “girl”, “female”, and possibly some other terms.
ヤラレ/やられ is the part I ...
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"People" vocabulary usage distinction
I searched for Japanese terms related to the English word "people" and discovered an impressive variety of terms to choose from! I'm curious about the differences between each term and the usage of ...
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I can't translate 天吼
Context: Mecha anime soundtrack.
I know that 天 is akin to "heavenly," but I've never seen 吼 before, and I can't find a translation -- or even another use in Japanese -- online at all. In traditional ...
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Meaning of: いらっしゃいます。
I know what はじめまして means. It means, pleased / nice to meet you. When reading Manga at school to learn these expressions, I see the phrase quite often.
But there was one Manga where I saw the phrase, ...
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About 同形の別字 and its meaning
I am doing a research on differences between kanji and hanzi and accidentally stumbled across the term 同形の別字. The article that refers to it doesn't elaborate on its meaning. Does that term mean ...
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What definition does 入る take in this sentence?
Consider this sentence:
さっきなぜかマイクが入らなかった。
This is translated as:
"For some reason the microphone didn't work earlier."
When I looked up the definition of 入る
to enter; to go into
to break into
...
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Combining two words into a name [closed]
I've noticed that Japanese names are often made up of different words meaning different things, creating a combination of the meaning of the Japanese name.
Is it possible if I could combine two ...
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what does した mean?
What does した mean? Google translate says it means "did", but once again i'm not convinced. Thanks!
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What does 正規品 mean?
Recently, I came across this word: 正規品{せいきひん}
None of online dictionaries that I know had registered the term at all. I could not find such word in search result of jisho.org or search result of ...
user15816
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Meaning of そ、in 「そ、 そんなこと言っても……」?
I need some help understanding what "そ," means in the following context, in which two fighters are being forced to fight and are conversing during the fight:
Opponent:「死にたくなかったら、 本気できなさい」
“If ...
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Meaning of 尻を持ち込む
In the 4th sentence of the 3rd paragraph of 坊ちゃん is:
古川の持っている田圃の井戸を埋めて尻を持ち込まれた事もある。
I am not sure what is meant by 尻を持ち込まれた.
According to Weblio it means:
問題の後始末を他の人に頼む。
I take it to mean ...
user26935
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What does カラオケと遊ぶのが大好きです mean?
What does the following sentence mean?
カラオケと遊ぶのが大好きです
I know that it has to do with karaoke but whether it is playing karaoke or karaoke and playing is the problem which I don't know.
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To Underestimate: Nameru vs Anadoru 舐める vs 侮る
Other than one being to lick, any difference between the 2 for underestimating?
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Why is その used here?
I found this definition of 食用{しょくよう}:
食べ物として用いること。また、その食べ物。「食用になる」
Which I read as
食｛た｝べ物{もの}として用｛もち｝いること。また、その食｛た｝べ物｛もの｝。「食用{しょくよう}になる」
Meaning
A thing that can be used as food. Also, that ...
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～なあに at the end of a sentence
I borrowed a Japanese children's book from the library to practice and of course I'm stuck on the title. It is called ごあいさつなあに。I know the first part means greetings or welcome, but I can't find any ...
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Is ”えんりょしなさい” correct
For this question, the correct answer is choice 2.
While I've already known the meaning of "いいかげんにしなさい" is "enough!" and "act properly!", I still have no idea about the reason that choice 1 is ...
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Japanese word バイキング
I learned a word "バイキング". The meaning of this word in the dictionary includes both "smorgasbord" and "all-you-can-eat buffet". However, as I know, there are some differences between the two English ...
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Grammar justification for 「〜わりに（は）」
I recently came across this expression「〜わりに（は）」 An example:
りんごは、安いわりには美味しい。(source)
Apples are delicious, considering how cheap they are.
What I don't understand is why?
The dictionary entry for わり ...
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X wants for Y to not be Z
I have a translation of a given sentence in English, but the Japanese version seems to use a verb that seems a little different than what would be intended, so I wanted to ask about it here and double-...
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What is the better 表現 of meeting someone unplanned / by chance?
Question
I wonder what would be the better way to represent the idea of "meeting someone unplanned / by chance".
Or is it just a matter of one's preference?
I want the sentence to be least ...
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What is the word for "play your part"?
The closest that I can see is 出し合う. Is there something better to express doing what you are expected to do in a pre-arranged situation?
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What's the difference between 記号 and しるし？
I know that 記号 is translated as 'symbol' or 'code' while しるし is 'mark' or 'sign' but I can't seem to figure out when to use the appropriate one.
地図にたくさん記号がある。
地図にたくさんしるしがある。
What's the difference ...
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