Questions tagged [kanji]
漢字. Chinese characters as used in Japanese writing as opposed to the two kana syllabaries and rōmaji (Latin letters).
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What does 坊 mean in 隠れん坊?
隠れん坊 means ''hide and seek''.
隠 means ''to hide/conceal'' so that part makes sense.
But 坊 means ''boy/priest/priest's residence'' which doesn't make sense here.
Can anyone shed some light on the Kanji ...
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Special Kana in Man'yōgana?
Probably a dumb question, but I'm wondering how certain sounds would be represented in Man'yōgana. Places like Wikipedia have charts that show the normal Kana and their kanji equivalents, but they don'...
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Why does 八 have an extra thing on top?
The similarity between "to enter (入)" and "number 8 (八)" confuses me. What's the extra part on top of 八?
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How are different spellings sorted in the Daijisen dictionary?
To to my knowledge, The Daijisen is one of the most authoritative dictionaries of Japanese, at least for contemporary usage. When they provide several writings for the same entry, are there any rules ...
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What form does 満を持して贈る take on here in this context?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxasEvdWGxo&t=0m30s
This is a sentence in a promotional video for an upcoming game.
Narrator:
このゲームはクエストが満を持して贈るシミュレーションRPG！
Google translate gives:
This game is a ...
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Is the reading 缶【かん】の縁【えん】correct?
Is the reading 缶【かん】の縁【えん】 correct?
缶【かん】の縁【えん】でけがをしないように気【き】を付【つ】けてください
Be careful not to injure yourself on the rim of the can.
https://www.bosai-nippon.com/article/4242?paged=2
I also found
縁【ふち】
...
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Difference between kanji にち and び [duplicate]
Google translate used same kanji for にち and び 日曜日. First syllable represents にち whereas last syllable represent び. But I can differentiate them both of them are looking same. They are pronounced ...
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噓憑き: what is it and how is it different from 嘘つき?
While looking at song lyrics I found the word 噓｛うそ｝憑｛つ｝き . What kind of kanji usage is this, and how does it differ from 噓｛うそ｝つき?
Since 憑 means "haunt, possess" and the song is about ghosts ...
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Does these Kanjis with "supposedly" English alphabets inside exist?
A random Youtube video popped out in my feed that showed a man writing these Kanjis:
These Kanjis "supposedly" has English alphabets inside. Are these Kanjis real or these are just made up ...
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Kanji for かまいあい?
「最近【さいきん】の都会【とかい】にはお互【たが】いに面倒【めんどう】をみる『かまいあい』がなくなっちまったよな～」
The "Kamai-ai" spirit of taking care of each other has disappeared in the cities these days.
https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/column/...
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Do you have to use the kanji 何 for nani (なに 'what' ) ? And kanji vs hiragana in general
What I remember is that the only point of Kanji is to distinguish words that have the same hiragana (homophones?) Did I misremember? If so, then what's the point of using Kanji when I could use ...
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I've seen 雄臭い used in some articles and posts but couldn't find the hiragana pronunciation, does anyone what it is?
Based on the kanji and what I gathered I'm assuming it means "smells manly" or "reeks of a man". The thing is I couldn't find any hiragana reading on the kanji and wanted to know ...
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Is there any reason why this song is written entirely in kanji?
I was looking up the lyrics for the song 反面教師為貴方覇本日怒上昇中乃巻 by 久保あおい (youtube link), and I noticed that the lyrics are entirely in kanji. I thought that was interesting since its a song, not writing, so ...
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達 返 遠 速 What are these kanji characters sitting on?
達 返 遠 速 All these kanji seem to be set on a shoe, or a boat, or something. What is it called? Does it mean something?
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Origin of 玉(たま) as a circular object
In Chinese, 玉 means jade or something beautiful/valuable. But in Japanese, it can mean a variety of other things such as a circular object, female entertainer, testicles etc. I'm curious as to when 玉{...
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When does a kanji stroke go up?
I was looking at the stroke order for 球, and I noticed that in the 求 component there's a diagonal stroke that is written upwards, which is rather unusual to me (fourth stroke):
I would have drawn all ...
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How to understand combined characters (kanji) more easily?
A lot of Japanese restaurants, mangas and just paragraphs of texts in general (or not in general, used basically anywhere) use combined characters to make things appear shorter.
And I can’t understand ...
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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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What does this double entendre じゃなかったらいいのかよ mean?
「テレビ番組を勝手にアップロードするのは違法だからな」
「10年以下の懲役か1000万円以下の罰金か、その両方だ」
Teacher talking to 3 students:
It's illegal to upload TV programs without permission.
You can get up to 10 years of hard labor... ...10 ...
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Anyone has any idea why 狼狽 means "confusion/panic/consternation" when both kanjis are ways of saying "wolf"?
Basically, I'm asking if anyone knows of a possible etymological reason. Maybe it has to do with the ideogram itself, maybe it's a saying, but I'm not finding satisfying answers online.
Apparently, in ...
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「黄米来夏」 Can this be considered a name?
I am attempting to make a name for a character and decided on these 4 kanji. My question is, can this be considered a name in Japanese, if so, how would it be pronounced?
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Is "先" an auto-antonym?
An auto-antonym is a word with multiple meanings (senses) of which one is the reverse of another.
So apparently the kanji meaning of this word is "previous" or "past". This seems ...
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Is び the reading for a productive suffix 〜日?
In cases where 日 is productively attached as a suffix to an already complete word, what is the canonical reading of this character? I mean cases, when a connecting article の is dropped and 日 becomes a ...
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Please explain how this "joke" works, ダーウンロードってかぁ
I have no idea how this joke is even supposed to be a joke.
In this video, 3 kids are laughing at the idea of uploading:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2qxzVteHto&t=0m12s
「だいたいアップロードってなんだよ？...
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How Japanese speakers deal with Kanji reading/understanding
I am quite new to learning Japanese. Ideas are welcome.
How do Japanese speakers pronounce Chinese characters? Do they need to remember all the pronunciations of a single Chinese character? And then ...
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Understanding the reading of 日曜日 [duplicate]
I am new to Japanese and I've seen several questions similar to this one, but not exactly that one. If this has been asked before, I am very sorry.
In our class, we introduced weekdays and the Kanji ...
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Rei 令 handwritten variant
The kanji 令 Rei, as in 令和, can apparently be written in a pleasantly different way. One is more of a computer font, the other is more handwritten. The stroke order is the same, but it's quite a ...
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Does long vowel in Japanse apply for more than 2 vowels? [duplicate]
I stumbled on the word 経営 and wonder if it should be pronounced /keee/ or /ke ee/ (two separate words with two long vowels.
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How do I read this kanji from an old book?
It is from a book titled ガンビアの春, or Spring in Gambier, that I am translating for my senior capstone project. I can read 活, but I couldn't tell you what the second character is. This author tends to ...
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Is 也 within the kanji 池 acting as a phonetic?
Recently, I have been studying kanji seriously. I just learned the compositions 成り立ち of kanji. There is a 成り立ち that confuses me a lot. My text book says 池 is a kanji categorized as 形声文字 (kanji ...
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Dakuon on kanji and hiragana where it's not normally used [duplicate]
https://twitter.com/motokazu95/status/1469469575930871808
小林さんと酒゛が゛飲゛み゛た゛い゛！
In this tweet dakuon is used after a kanji and on these hiragana where I've never seen them used before, which I've ...
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霊感 meaning and if it is the best choice to express inspiration
So I'm looking to express the great inspiration some people feel that guides admirable creations. This kind of thing.
I found 霊感 but I have very little experience with kanjis and I don't want to ...
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Was the writing system used in the Empire of Japan (大日本帝国) called 真片仮名?
So, today I encountered the claim on Wikipedia
Shinkatakana (真片仮名, mana and katakana): mixed script including only kanji and katakana.
Wikipedia doesn't list a source for this claim.
This sounds to ...
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What is the correct tense for を生み?
一つの時代の積み重ねが新たな伝説を生み、ここにまた一人のヒーローが誕生した。ロックマン (source)
Here are two translations I have:
The culmination of one era gives birth to a new legend, and here again another hero is born.
The efforts of an ...
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Writing できました as 出来ました
I came across a tweet of an illustration with the caption "出来ました"
https://twitter.com/sakura77722/status/1461636114930798594
When writing the verb できる as 出来る does it still mean things like &...
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What is the meaning of 厚 (thick) in 厚生労働省 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare)?
The basic meaning of「厚」is thick, large, deep, strong. I also found the meaning kind, cordial. However I wonder why it is at the beginning of the compound「厚生労働省」.
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Confusion over それで+なら meaning
In this video, the characters are saying the lines they had in the game, only reworded, but they basically mean the same thing.
やってみせる、それで自分が取り戻せるなら。
In the video game, there is a line of text:
...
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"current husband"?
How does one read 今夫, as in the sentence here:
私【わたくし】の知【し】り合【あ】いの女性【じょせい】は、[5]{ご}階【かい】に元夫【もとおっと】、[10]{じゅっ}階【かい】に今夫【いまおっと】さんがいるそうで、[4]{よん}階【かい】で本人【ほんにん】がモリモリ働【はたら】いています (source)
I know a woman who ...
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Looking for website / tool / help in showing what typed Kanji on a keyboard should look like if hand written [duplicate]
Just as the title suggests, tons of Hiragana Katakana & Kanji look different when you type them on a phone compared to how one would learn to write them on pen and paper.
Is there a tool I can ...
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Which is more commonly used in writing? 者 or もん
Which is more commonly used in writing? 者 or もん.
For example:
笑った者勝ち
笑ったもん勝ち
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The reading of 町 for different towns
The following is an excerpt from an article on NHK News Web Easy.
Why is one town called Takamori-machi but the other one - Yamato-chou? The kanji for “town” is the same but the reading is different ...
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Can I use this name since it is the same?
My name is Annaka. There is a city in Japan called 安中 (Annaka) spelled and sounds the exact same way. Can I use “安中” to refer to myself? If not, what variation could I use?
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Why is the kanji for haru (陽) pronounced as "yo"?
So I was looking up the word Haru and I saw there are many different ways it can be written in kanji (陽, 春, 晴). When I then looked up the first one to see how it is pronounced, multiple websites (one ...
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Why do people usually write words using kanji instead of hiragana? [duplicate]
I've been studying Japanese and I realized some kanji are pronounced exactly like hiragana like 日 is the read the same as ひ.
For example, the verb "write" is written like 書くinstead of かく, ...
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I Want To Give My Children Japanese Names, As I Will Naturalize Myself Soon, Can I Use Jinmeiyō Kanji To Create ANY Name?
For example, we like the names Ren (蓮/廉) & Touka (藤香). Could we create the name, Rentouka, combining the two?
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Why are pickled plums 梅干 and not 梅漬, etc?
What caused pickled plums to be referenced with kanji indicating dryness? Could it be that the word itself holds some form of seniority over the kanji? My quick Wikipedia skimming does not seem to ...
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Computer fonts - Small Hane Inkblot Thing
I noticed that some fonts have a small, stylized inkblot on the end of certain strokes in kanji. When I first realized this, I honestly thought that I, myself, was having a stroke! Regardless, I have ...
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Why is this やって来た read やってくた？ [closed]
Seen in the manga きみとピコピコ (第17話)
夏合宿と称して
旅館{りょかん}にやって来{く}た
Why does やって来た have reading やってくた? Is this a typo or the reading くた actually exists?
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