Questions tagged [meaning]
意味. The meaning of words or phrases within certain contexts, especially when it does not seem to match the standard definition.
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うるさい written as 五月蝿い
This is a follow-up question to Does うるさい have a "negative" connotation.
I've seen うるさい written as 五月蝿い.
現代では、is this form used often / at all?
What does this have to do with flies (蝿【はえ】) ...
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Do all the meanings of 掛ける and 掛かる tally?
WWWJDIC does not tally their meanings of 掛ける and 掛かる so i find it hard for a beginner like me to properly learn these 2 words..
Do all these meanings of 掛ける and 掛かる tally: (is this list correct):
1a)...
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Usage and meaning of [passive verb]-てみれば
I am familiar with the set phrase 「言われてみれば」 as a way to say "Now that you say that", but as I examine the phrase further, the phrase structure strikes me as strange. The 〜てみる conjugation is commonly ...
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What is the function of と when it's not quoting, or doing exhaustive listing?
Consider these two sentences:
(1) 母はついてくるようにアリスに合図した (Mother signaled to Alice to follow her)
(2) 父は手で私に部屋を出ていくようにと合図した。 (Father gestured to me to go out of the room)
And another sentence which I ...
Flaw♦
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What does さちゅえい mean?
I can't find this in any dictionary, but it seems to mean something like picture. Is that right?
I don't have an example sentence, because that word was the whole sentence.
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Reversing the clause pattern "～ほう～より"
Consider the two sentences below:
(1) 私のほうが田中さんよりよく飲む。(I drink more than Mr. Tanaka.)
(2) 私はビールより酒のほうをよく飲む。(I drink more sake than beer.)
I think the pattern for the second one is a reverse of the ...
Flaw♦
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Meaning of 共同志向性
In the context of a personality quizz, what does 共同志向性 means?
I feel it is something like the quality of being a good team-player, but not sure.
Google does not know
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What does 氏 mean after a name, how is it different from さん or 様?
If you look in the dictionary for the definition of 氏 you'll find it defined as: family name; lineage; birth.
However I have seen it used in such a way that it is doubtful that it means any of those ...
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Does the use of は or omitting は affect the listener's reply?
This is a question taken from a JLPT excercise workbook.
Person A: 新聞をよく読みますか。
Person B: そうですね。毎日は[Fill in this blank]。
I am given 4 choices, of which only 2 are conjugated correctly.
Choice 1: ...
Flaw♦
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What's the meaning of すます in 耳をすませば?
What's the meaning of すます in 耳をすませば?
How would you translate this?
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What is おやすみNASA胃？
I've seen this in several places. Is that a set phrase? What does that mean?
I know that it's a way of saying "Goodnight," but the NASA胃 doesn't make sense.
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How do I decide when to use plain or past verb form?
In
(1) 明日、家へ帰って、母が作ったおいしい料理を食べます。
why is it 作った when it’s a future event? If I wanted to create a clause meaning 'delicious food my mother makes', it would be 母が作るおいしい料理. Does changing 作った in (1) ...
Flaw♦
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"Unsolvable problem"
What is the correct construction of "unsolvable problem"? Is it "解{と}けられない問題{もんだい}"？(Question 1)
Plain(intransitive): 解{と}ける "To be solved".
Potential form(of ...
Flaw♦
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What is the らせ form of a verb?
I'm trying to understand this:
賞品？おそらく！リナちゃん.....私の後ろの笑い声輝くんがたくさんで黙らせ
The last word, 黙らせ, is confusing. Is this a combination of different forms?
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Qualitative intensifiers e.g. とても, とっても, 超, etc. How are they different?
How are とても/とっても, でかい/でっかい, 超 (and others that I have yet to encounter) used differently? I figured that for とても/とっても-type difference is that the double-consonant(geminated) version is stronger i.e. a ...
Flaw♦
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A word like マシ without the negative connotation
When asking, "which is better," in Japanese, I could write どっちがマシ？
However マシ has a negative connotation, implying that even though something is better it's still undesirable.
What's a word like マシ ...
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に and で revisited
Consider the statement A: ホテル（に/で）泊まる. For both cases would translate to "I stay at a hotel" in English. However they are answers to different questions.
Consider the questions １．どこに泊まる and ２．（ホテルで）...
Flaw♦
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Differences in meaning of using へ, に, or で in marking locations.
in "明日、姉とデパート＿買い物に行きます。"
why is へ favoured over で in my workbook?
If i ask myself the question "明日は、何をする" Can i answer it with "買い物に行く" and make ”デパート” an incidental location? That was how i justified ...
Flaw♦
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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 does 染めちゃえ mean here? [closed]
Saw this on twitter:
A: マオにゃん、シドギャの彼女が出来ない僕に一言くれたら幸いです ...
B: 付き合った後に染めちゃえ
What is 染めちゃえ here?
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Meaning of 右端揃 in "これ右端揃うかな？"
I received this email from someone close, who has a deadline to finish a graduation thesis:
期日は20日です(>д<)
これ右端揃うかな？笑
右端揃 means "right-alignment" but I don't understand what is the meaning of ...
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What does 叱ってやりたい mean in this context?
On twitter I saw this:
なのに風呂掃除したら100円もらってたおれ…叱ってやりたい！笑
What does it mean?
This is the previous tweet:
最近だなー。食ったらすぐ食器洗うのが習慣になったの。実家に居た頃は全部母親がやってたから甘えちゃってた。仕事もしてて家事も完璧にやってた母親、今更ながら尊敬します。
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Meaning of ...立てちゃいなよ
I am organizing an event and posted a flyer on a famous SNS.
Someone commented on it saying: イベント立てちゃいなよ
From the context I guess it is advising me to create an event (SNS feature), am I mistaken?
...
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Definition of ブラコン when discussing musical preferences
A Japanese person told me that they have ブラコン。I looked it up on Wikipedia and it said something like an emotional attachment to one's brother. But they said that it meant something like someone who ...
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Meaning of 情弱乙 ?
I see 情弱乙 being used (as an interjection?) on many websites, but I can't find it in any dictionary, even online dictionaries. I guess the pronunciation is じょうじゃくおつ. What does it mean?
Examples:
情弱乙！
...
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What does ちょちょい mean?
I can't find this defined anywhere.
Here's an example:
タオルケットをちょちょいかけにきてくれる。
I am also interested in what this whole sentence says.
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Who scolded whom in Aに怒られる?
I can see that someone got mad or someone made someone else mad. The things that make it difficult are に and the られる form of 怒る. What does this mean? How do you figure out who did what in these types ...
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Using すみません instead of ありがとう
Can すみません always be used in place of ありがとう? What's the difference?
When using すみません to express thanks, what other words are used with it?
Could you show me some examples?
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What does やい mean? [closed]
Someone ended their sentence with やいな. What dialect is this? What does やい mean? I assume that な means the same thing as in standard Japanese?
Update: the original sentence was 「もう出来あがり？仕事はやいな～」.
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Are there any metaphors in these Japanese sentences?
I'm trying to understand the following three lines from a song:
ただ会いたくて 声も無くしそうで
でも会えなくて 夢さえ恨んだ
日々薄れてく 記憶を手探りで 感触をただ愛した
Each line is progressively difficult to understand. I can read the words but ...
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Other meanings of でしょう besides "probably"
でしょう can usually be understood to mean "probably." But does it sometimes mean the same thing as ですね? What other meanings can it have? Can it mean "you know?"
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Pronunciation and meaning of [closed]
I just received an email ending like this:
是非是非また誘って
How to read the ?
Zero results on Google.
As for the meaning, is it equivalent to よ ?
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Reading 男 or 女 as ひと
Why is it that in Japanese sentence one sees 男 or 女 with furigana that says ひと? Furigana is supposed to help clarify the meaning of a kanji character, but using ひと doesn't seem to help clarify ...
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How did 革 "leather" come to mean newness?
How did the character for "leather" - [革]{かわ ／ カク} - come to also convey the meaning for "newness"? 広辞苑 lists one of the definitions (under かく) as あらたまること, あらためること, and we can see this in some of its ...
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What does -komu (～込む) at the end of a word mean?
There are loads of words in Japanese which end in 込{こ}む, like 吸{す}い込む, 読{よ}み込む, 入{はい}り込む, 打{う}ち込む, 売{う}り込む, 送{おく}り込む, 押{お}し込む. How does adding ～込む change the meaning? What is the meaning that links ...
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