Questions tagged [kanji]
漢字. Chinese characters as used in Japanese writing as opposed to the two kana syllabaries and rōmaji (Latin letters).
1,172
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68 views
Is the first stroke in the Kanji 文 a short vertical line? [duplicate]
The first stroke in the Chinese character 文 is a dot-stroke (点).
It is not a short vertical line.
But all my dictionaries show the Kanji for ぶん as 文 with a short vertical line as the first stroke.
...
0
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1answer
90 views
Is the Japanese か more rounded than the Chinese 力?
Is the Japanese か more rounded than the Chinese 力 ?
It seems the Chinese character has a sharper corner there on the first stroke while the Japanese kanji seems to curve around the corner.
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0answers
92 views
Question about the kanji 兵
When I was sixteen I got my first tattoo and I choose this kanji " 兵 " because I saw that stands for warrior. A couple of years after, I saw that the kanji stands more for "soldiers" than "warrior" (...
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1answer
88 views
Is there a kanji for いいですね?
Is there kanji for いいですね?
I see that よいですね can be written as 良いですね.
In context, is 良いですね understood and read as いいですね?
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0answers
54 views
Can't understand this kanji [closed]
I was playing Animal Crossing on the NDS emulator, and I could not understand how this kanji may be written and what does that mean due to really small, almost incomprehensible font. If you know what ...
2
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1answer
113 views
I don't understand the structure of かたじけない しのぶ！！?
I don't understand...
well, that's what it was there in the manga ... like this:
bubble1:侍達を一人残らず抹殺せよ！！！
bubble2:ぐわア！！！
bubble3:かたじけない しのぶ！！武器は助かった！！
bubble4:いえ
and nothing else ...
6
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1answer
112 views
Reading/meaning of 裡
日頃は冷静な乾さんの裡から、ちらりと激情が見えたようだった。
What is the reading and meaning of 裡 here? I found the readings うち and うら in Jisho.org
2
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1answer
58 views
時代 Homograph, Written as とき [duplicate]
I recently finished the anime series Inuyasha, along with the four films. I noticed while looking at the Wikipedia entry for the first film—映画犬夜叉 時代を越える想い—that the romanization is written "Eiga ...
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0answers
27 views
NX/known-kanji-only words match site or app? [migrated]
I wish to make a deck in anki or play around with certain vocabulary, but I want to separate it from new kanji learning.
So the idea is to take for example N5 kanji, and make a list of matches, i.e. ...
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3answers
191 views
Question regarding the 「⻏」radical
I’ve put ⻏ in the search function but got no result.
There are two ⻏radicals. Their origins are different but they are visually identical.
On Jisho:
But in a different dictionary (an app I got for ...
7
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2answers
242 views
What happens when a speaker could not read a kanji character when reading a text out loud?
I am currently in the process of slowly learning kanji. I have found out that there are 2136 characters of general use "joyo" kanji, but it is said that the total number of kanji characters could be ...
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2answers
463 views
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0answers
40 views
Onyomi vs Kunyomi. What is the difference? [duplicate]
I am trying to learn Japanese but there is a lots of problems. Why is there Onyomi (Chinese reading) in Kanji? Does it really need? And how about the kanji pronunciation? Why do kanji have several ...
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1answer
159 views
I can't identify this semi-cursive kanji
So I'm reading this manga and I am suddenly hit with a semi-cursive kanji which I need some more practice to get use to it. I tried checking the radicals but to no avail. I have no idea what it is.
...
2
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1answer
97 views
Reading and Meaning of 町の主だった幹部
今回は、町の主だった幹部は、全員顔を揃えていた。
How would you read 主 here? And does 町の主だった幹部 mean "the main leaders of the town"?
2
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1answer
146 views
万引き etymology. Why does 万引き mean shoplifting
I have just watched the Japanese "Shoplifter" movie and wonder why 万引きmeans shoplifting.
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2answers
227 views
How to tell similar Radicals apart?
For example the top of these characters:
今 -> 人 (ひと)
全 -> 入 (はいる)
Or the side of these:
明 -> 月 (つき)
腹 -> 肉 (にく)
Are there more examples like these?
How do I know which is which?
5
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2answers
182 views
What is the difference between 訪ねる and 訪問する?
I know the difference between 訪ねる and 訪れる, but I don't understand when 訪問する is used.
5
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1answer
196 views
How did 沢山 (たくさん) come to mean “many”?
There are understandably a lot of words in Japanese that are made of Kanji totally unrelated to the meaning of the actual word.
However, it's hard to ignore the ubiquitous 沢山.
How did a combination ...
2
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2answers
194 views
しれーっといてられるなと思います
「まぁ、よくも、こんな重大{じゅうだい}な事件{じけん}を視聴者{しちょうしゃ}に説明{せつめい}もせず、しれーっといてられるなと思{おも}います。」
How could they do that without explaining?
To me, this might also mean:
Well, how could they dare do that without ...
7
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3answers
2k views
Why does the word for “high school” use 校 instead of 学?
I'm learning Japanese on Duolingo and they're starting to teach me some vocabulary about schooling. Things like 大学, 中学, 小学, and... 高校?
I know that 学校 is the kanji spelling of "school," but why does "...
0
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1answer
70 views
Number of kanji characters / words I need to learn for N3 level [closed]
I've been studying Japanese for 2 years. I'm N4 level currently, recently I've had a bit of slump in learning but i think I'm about to go back to learning once again
Can anyone tell me the minimum ...
5
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2answers
273 views
What constitutes as Kyūjitai Kanji?
The English Wikipedia page for Kyūjitai kanji begins with the following line:
Kyūjitai (舊字體/旧字体, literally "old character forms") are the traditional forms of kanji, Chinese written characters used ...
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0answers
84 views
Pronouncing Kanji when combined with other kanji [duplicate]
I have only just started learning Kanji, I know that 中国 means China and is pronounced Chūgoku . However 中 is pronounced differently (naka instead of chū).国 is also pronounced kuni on its own instead ...
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2answers
152 views
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2answers
704 views
Why would a light novel have furigana for common kanji?
I've been reading the light novels ひげを剃る and a lot of the furigana use confuses me. For context, not every kanji has furigana- I'd say like 20% of the kanji per page have it.
They use it for ...
3
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1answer
138 views
Why “ついてきてください” and not “付いてきてください”
I found some similar questions regarding Japanese switching out relatively "easy" kanji for hiragana, but I still can't seem to understand why it's done.
I saw this sentence from a movie:
参加される方は ...
0
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1answer
190 views
How can I say “female soldier” in Japanese
I have trouble translating "female soldier" in Japanese: Is it 女戦士 or 女性戦士? Also is the particle の lacking between the two words?
2
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1answer
115 views
Words with varied 音読み｛おんよみ｝
In watching this YouTube video, the last slide displays the following information, which provides examples of words that bear 呉音｛ごおん｝、漢音｛かんおん｝、and 唐宋音｛とうそうおん｝ types of 音読み｛おんよみ｝. I was interested in ...
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1answer
256 views
Is there a meaning associated with upside-down kanji?
I'm watching an anime ("The Irregular at Magic High School"), and in one scene (Season 1, Episode 23, 0:45), the kanji 福 ("good fortune": https://jisho.org/search/%E7%A6%8F%20%23kanji Colors are ...
2
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1answer
144 views
Does the meaning of the Kanji change based on its reading
Most Kanji have multiple readings. For example 人 has got the readings:
ひと
ジン
ニン
Does the meaning change when the Kanji is read differently. I don't think that the meaning of this Kanji changes based ...
8
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1answer
375 views
Criteria for reading 物{もつ} or 物{ぶつ}
One of the pronunciation I struggle most is 「物」: more ofthen than not, I misread it in words like 「作物」 and 「薬物」. I know what they mean, but it's likely I misread them by reading 「もつ」 instead of 「ぶつ」 ...
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0answers
38 views
Why 電話をかける is Ichidan verb, but when using kanji (掛) 電話が掛かる it becomes Godan verb? [duplicate]
I'm learning vocabulary and kanji for those words as well, and I notice in jisho that verb type changes when using kanji or hiragana.
And does the same thing happen with 出かける - 出掛ける ?
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1answer
230 views
The origin of the kanji 買
The kanji 買 （buy) contains the kanji 貝 （shellfish).
Is it because the origin of the kanji 買 lies in the process of buying shellfish?
Does anyone know the story behind the kanji 買?
Thank you!
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1answer
115 views
The origin of the kanji 読
The kanji 読 appears to consist of 言 and 売.
How come 言 (say) + 売 (sell) = 読 （read)?
Could you please shed some light on the origin of the kanji?
Thank you!
3
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1answer
145 views
Help identifying blurry kanji [closed]
I am currently trying to learning Japanese by reading manga. So far so good, but this kanji is too blurry for me to figure out. Anyone know what this could be?
I'm 98% sure the first character means '...
4
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1answer
3k views
What is this Kanji? I can’t find it anywhere?
I’ve been searching radicals on Jisho and other places but I can’t find a kanji to match this one.
0
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1answer
123 views
Trying to create a name but something is strange
I'm trying to create a name for my fictional character and I was trying to translate something like "wolf of the snow" in Japanese. I was using Jisho.org and Google translate (just because it reads ...
2
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1answer
227 views
夕立: why 立 if the word means “a sudden evening shower/rain”?
夕立 means (sudden) evening shower (rain).
夕 is for evening, but 立 means to stand, doesn't it?
What's the connection between a sudden evening shower and standing?
4
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2answers
255 views
Why was on'yomi (音読み) created?
As far as I understand it the Japanese Kanjis are derived from the Chinese ones. This was to introduce a writing system in Japan. But for the on‘yomi reading, the Japanese also took the spoken word ...
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1answer
262 views
In kanji 外, why is タ used instead of ソ? [closed]
Why is タ used instead of ソ in 外 despite it's read as ソト?
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1answer
200 views
風邪: reading and writing
Why do we write かぜ (cold) as 風邪, not just 風?
The second kanji (邪) is left unread, so why isn't it redundant?
Perhaps, that's to make sure cold doesn't sound like wind. But then why don't we read it ...
0
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1answer
158 views
Is my transcription of the handwritten kanji correct? [closed]
I just want to make sure my transcription is correct of the sentence pictured. (it probably isn't, but this is really the closest I could come up with.)
読みとみバーグアフ。微妙...
Is that correct?
For the ...
0
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1answer
90 views
Can someone help me identify the handwritten kanji? [closed]
Hi everyone, can someone please help me identify the kanji in the picture? Just the middle two kanji.
玲音がXXしているもの。
Is the kanji 使用?
Also what is the middle katakana/character between ミ and レ?
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1answer
164 views
What does 私はお願いしたいんですけど mean in this context?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4WlniHylrU&t=143s
This is a part of a legendary speech made by the former president of Nintendo at SpaceWorld. From my understanding, he is talking about the ...
0
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1answer
78 views
What is the difference between 北 and 北部 [duplicate]
What is the main difference between 北 and 北部?
I heard that's words that contain 2 kanji sounds more polite, but not sure that it's the current situation.
3
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1answer
159 views
Different stroke order in two similar kanji 戚 and 歴
According to some databases, (see 戚 vs
歴), the order of strokes of the upper part (厂) of the kanji 戚 is different from the same part in 歴. They may have been some historical reasons, but as they look ...
2
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1answer
127 views
Adopting a Japanese Name
すみません, I am trying to adopt a Japanese name. I have a Chinese name written as 吳虎威。 In modern standard Japanese orthography, it would be written as 呉 虎威. I understand that typically, Chinese names are ...
2
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1answer
255 views
Kanji identification (low res)
I am trying to read the text from a Nintendo DS game, but have encountered a kanji that's (at least for me) difficult to recognise because of the very low resolution of the screen:
I have tried to ...
1
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1answer
99 views
How do I remember a Kanji with more than two readings and when to use them [duplicate]
I'm currently studying Kanji using a flashcard app on my computer. I do know that there are two readings for each character, On and Kun. What I don't understand, is when a Kanji has more than two ...
