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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Ambiguous stroke order/count for 離?
I am a Japanese learner going through the jōyō kanji. I have run into a kanji that appears to have an ambiguous stroke order / count. Does the kanji 離 have 19 or 18 strokes?
Different dictionaries ...
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IDoes the title of my novel, '花手病' (はなてびょう), effectively convey the desired symbolism and themes of the story? [closed]
Context: 花 in the context of the novel has several symbolisms, the theme of ephemerality goes well with flowers and the protagonist has a connection with flowers, 手 also has a meaning with the ...
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Why is the vertical stroke in the middle of 田 drawn before the horizontal one in the middle?
I apologize if this is a stupid question, I've just begun learning.
I've noticed that in all hiragana except も and in the (very few) kanji I've learned so far, the horizontal strokes are always drawn ...
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How should I know when to use the Kanji/Hiragana for certain words?
Apologies if this is not correctly formatted or if my grammer does not make sense. My 1st language is Chinese, not English. I am very sorry.
In many cases, I will see people type the same word ...
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How do I say "meaning in between quotation marks" in a literal manner?
I have to make a basic presentation for my typography class and I want to talk about Japanese quotations marks (「」 and 『』).
I want to title it the "meaning in between quotation marks" but in ...
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Reading of 氷円弾 and other similar made up words
In this RPG video game I'm currently playing, monsters attack you with different techniques with made up names, such as 氷円弾. Since I don't know how I should read that kanji compound I searched this ...
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How to abbreviate まつゆきそう
I was trying to abbreviate this word meaning snowdrop, but I can't quite get it to work. Is it even possible?
I tried with multiple ways but it changes the whole meaning. If it matters I wanted to use ...
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「とらわれた くつじょく は はんげき の こうし だ」Would a Japanese person understand こうし in this spoken line WITHOUT kanji? [Attack on Titan]
In the legendary first opening of Shingeki no Kyojin (aka Attack on Titan), from 0:46 to 0:53, there's a line:
とらわれた くつじょく は はんげき の こうし だ。
Almost all of that is easily understandable. Except for &...
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日(ひ) は大昔からdayの意味持っていたのか
日本は漢人に接触し漢字と漢語を輸入した前に大和言葉はもう存在していたから、きっとその時にもうdayを指す語はもうあった。現代の視点から見ると、和語のdayの意味の言葉は「日(ひ)」なんですけど(例えば その日、あの日、出会った日)、これも漢語の影響なんですか？
詳細に言うと、昔の大和言葉の一日を指す語は「日(か)」だったと思うのは正しいですか。一ヶ月の中の日付も(二日ふつか、三日みっか等)、暦(...
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Is there an "opposite"/"inverse" of 当て字・熟字訓?
当て字 is using the reading of kanji instead of its meaning; it is the reading applied to the kanji. I'm wondering if there is a word for the opposite/inverse: having the kanji applied to a reading.
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Why Chinese "h" often corresponds to Sino-Japanese "k"? [closed]
Shanghai is Shanhai in Japanese / しゃんはい
However, 深海 is shinkai (shēnhǎi in Chinese).
Why does it seem like the Japanese switched the letter "h" to "k"? I know the kana, and "h&...
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Kanji radical positioning
I have a tea cup with kanjis of sea creatures printed on them, mostly fish.
Each of those around 50 names has the kanji for fish on the left, and then other radicals on the right.
Except for one ().
...
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Kanji with rearranged components but with different meaning
There are numerous 異体字 where the relation between the two characters is just a different arrangement of all the parts. For instance 裏/裡, 群/羣, 胸/胷, 棋/棊...
Are there instances where a simple re-...
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JLPT kanji font? [closed]
What is the font used in the JLPT?
This is particularly helpful for the 100,000s of students who write the JLPT every year as different fonts can have wide variation, and as kanji font has been shown ...
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大葉 vs 紫蘇 for shiso leaf
What is the difference in usage between 大葉(おおば) and 紫蘇(しそ)? Are there any implications or nuances in the usage of either? I've seen more 大葉 in the supermarket.
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How do Zen students learn the readings for jakugo?
In the appendix of A Zen Forest, Sōiku Shigematsu lists jakugo in the original Chinese characters, along with romaji to indicate how the saying is read by Japanese Zen students. I have a hard time ...
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Why is「北人」pronounced 「hokuto」?
My idol's name written in kanji is 北人 (ほくと). He once said that instead of 北斗, his parent changed 斗 into 人 because its meaning is much more deeper. But since I thought「北人」should be pronounced as「...
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Why is 嘘 used to represent the word うそ?
Why is 嘘 used to represent the word うそ? To my knowledge, 嘘 in Chinese doesn't have the meaning to lie; most of the definitions in the Kangxi Dictionary for instance are related to something like to ...
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Shorthand way of writing 人間?
I'm reading a manga and this afterword bit is handwritten. I'm assuming that the circled character is meant to be 人間, but is that a valid way of writing it shorthand or is it a completely different ...
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Is this sentence correctly spelled in Japanese Kanji using plural suffix [closed]
I am trying to write:
I have three game versions of Bio Hazard.
わたし 三つ バイオハザード ゲーム版達が あります
Watashi mittsu baiohazādo gēmu-ban-tachi ga arimasu
Is this correctly written?
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Did I create a good name for my character?
My first contact with Japanese names or their meanings was around 2021. Since then, I haven't stopped researching Japanese names. I want to create a meaningful Japanese name for my (fictional) story: ...
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Does kanji have meaning on their own, or they inherit their meaning(s) from the words they used in?
As the title says. I stumbled on the Reddit post today and became curious if that's true? Here's a quote from that post:
Kanji don't actually have a meaning on their own, they get meaning
from the ...
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When years are (or were) written using kanji numerals, what are the usual variants/options?
I believe that these days, years would be written almost always using western/Arabic numerals in either the Japanese era or Gregorian calendar.
But it must sometimes be written using the kanji ...
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How cross-applicable were Classical Chinese second-person pronouns to Japanese kanji?
I'm fairly certain there's a certain stigma surrounding second-person pronouns in Japanese. Even in Chinese, it's generally considered polite to avoid them (and refer to a person by surname, title, ...
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Abbreviations for weekdays
I was studying Japanese weekdays and I found something interesting: you can use abbreviations such us ゲッすい (月水) to indicate both Monday and Wednesday or 木土 pron. どぼく to indicate Thursday and Saturday....
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What are the three boxes? ロ, 口 and 囗
I was scrolling the Kanji Unicodes and spotted three box-like characters.
I'm well aware that ロ is the katakana ro, as for which the other two are, I'm not sure.
Among the three ロ (katakana), 口 (kanji)...
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How to read this name "番藤茶太郎"?
Can anyone help me how to read his name and nickname?
name: 番藤茶太郎
nickname: 番茶
Checking with AI seems to give "Fujito Chataro" as name but also "Bandou Chataro" and "Bancha&...
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Why is 正 used for tallying instead of 五?
I feel like it would make more sense to use 五 since it literally means 5.
I know that 正 has 5 strokes and 五 has 4, but you could still tally like so:
I also know this question isn't just limited to ...
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Do we need to learn N4 and N3 kanji for JPLT N5? Most of recommended verbs using more advanced kanji than N5 ones [closed]
I want to try to my luck with JLPT N5 this December and I'm still not sure how much Kanji I supposed to memorize. I got the impression that for N5 I need to know around 100 Kanji, but I've already ...
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What does 亜字形図象 mean?
In particular I was not able to find 図象 in any dictionary; I wonder if it is perhaps a typo and the author meant 図像.
In the case that the author meant 図像, would it then simply mean "icon made up ...
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Given harakiri was once pronounced farakiri and, even earlier, parakiri, how do I write those two older forms, using kanjis?
In "The Unfolding Of Language" by Guy Deutscher, I've read that "harakiri" was once pronounced as "farakiri" and, even earlier "parakiri", thus reavaling the ...
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Pronouncing kanji numbers
ホグワーツには一四二もの階段があった。
There were as many as 142 staircases at Hogwarts.
This is probably a daft question but I'd like to be sure.
When you see a number written in kanji like 一四二 do you read it as ...
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why does 先 means "ahead" and "previous" at the same time?
sometimes 先 (saki) means the future, but for ex 先月 means previous month 😳. why? how?
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kun and on reading
Hello I recently read the difference between the kun or on readings and understood it, now I know in which cases to use one or the other reading, but I still have a question.
For example: the kanji 日 ...
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Which one is correct between 侘び寂び and 侘寂
I know that generally you use the hiragana "わびさび", and in the entry for "侘寂" in the chinese wikipedia "侘び寂び" is listed as the original japanese, but I still have my ...
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"魂 燃え立つ 天の降るとも" having "魂" read as "こころ" and "天" read as ”雨"? (Bleach)
In Bleach Sennen Kessen-hen, at the end of each episode, an old poetic-style line or two is read to invoke the next episode. But I wonder whether it's actually some old poetic style of speech, or if ...
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Can you suggest a name for an energy in a magic system that incorporates the kanji 真霊? [closed]
I have decided to choose a more flashy and direct title for my new work. Specifically, I am creating a magic system and I have chosen the name "Rei" (霊) for it, but I don't want to offend ...
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What are the 漢字 that aren't jouyou or jinmeiyou for?
When you search them up, they have readings, and meanings sometimes, but they're non standard and can't even be used anywhere, neither do I know if they were used in old Japanese.
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Can I choose my own kanji characters for my middle name?
My middle name is Asano, named after my great grandmother, but my family has lost the ability to write Japanese and not sure exactly what kanji she used in her name. Am I able to decide my own ...
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What is this sign? [duplicate]
When i use Google Translate on my phone it translate it as either - or !
But my problem is that it looks nothing like the one in the the various Manga´s and such where i see it.
So anyone know what ...
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Can Kun'yomi and On'yomi be mixed? Can a distant On'yomi reading be used? [closed]
The title is pretty catchy on its own, but I'm already familiar with creating good Japanese names. I know about kanji and their meanings, but I'm at a loss. I have a few doubts. The first one: Can Kun'...
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Are 神 and 神 the same?
My friend asked me if I know what 神仙 means so I tried to look it up and almost all the results I got were 神仙 instead of 神仙. Which appearently means something like a hermit or an immortal person that ...
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What is the proper way to notate Japanese lyrics in sheet music?
I'm transcribing a song with Japanese lyrics as sheet music but am unsure how to approach using kanji.
Here's an example:
Currently, I front-load the kanji on the first note so that it is immediately ...
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If 米 can be used to refer to America as a country (USA), can it also refer to America as a continent?
I am currently studying this Kanji. In addition to the original meaning of rice, it also has other meanings of meter (SI unit of length) and America. In English and my mother tongue Indonesian, "...
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Why is this reading like this?
Why is this reading like this? Looking this up I had to search the radicals individually on Jisho. The furigana reading... is it just flat out wrong? Furthermore, why is the word structured like this? ...
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How should I read 帖合・書店印 and what is it?
帖合・書店印
There are cards in my books called 注文カード and it's written on them. I can't type the first word automatically and I don't know how to read 印 since it has two pronunciations: しるし, いん.
ちょうあい・...
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How to make sense of radicals that form a kanji
One thing that puzzles me, is how to guess a meaning of a kanji by deducting its radicals. For instance 神 (god), is constructed of ｜ 日 礼 田 . What's the idea behind it? A stick combined with a sun ...
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Kanji with multiple readings of identical meaning
Are there other instances in Japanese where a kanji compound has two or more readings that all carry the same or very similar meanings, akin to the use of 明日 for tomorrow, which can be read as あした, あす,...
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What does 次元を超越 really mean?
Unless it's rude to ask, I would like responses mainly from Japanese native speakers, please.
There is this scan from the guidebook for the Dragon Ball Z anime with a translation that is generally ...
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How is Tsuyuri Kumin's name (五月七日くみん) read with 3 characters when it's made up of 4 kanji?
From the Chuunibyou anime, Kumin's last name is Tsuyuri (3 characters), but written as 五月七日 (4 kanji characters). How can this be? At first, I thought it might just be a chuuni thing, where you write ...
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