Questions tagged [words]
言葉. Any question that does not deal specifically with grammar or pronunciation. Includes questions about prefixes, suffixes, compound words, loanwords, dialectal differences, pragmatic usage, etc. In other words, phenomena that occurs at the level of the word.
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Meaning of サイケデリック in this Non Non Biyori excerpt
This is from a scene in volume 1 of Non Non Biyori. During the chapter, Renge is concerned that "we might live in the countryside" (田舎) and lists several evidences of it.
Renge mentions ...
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Is 男 ‘man’ or ‘male’?
I’ve looked at multiple dictionaries and websites and received both as an answer. Is both correct or is one answer more correct?
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Mystery of 徐に: "slowly" or "suddenly"?
I came across the adverb 徐に{おもむろに} , which is supposed to mean "slowly, deliberately" as in "he slowly got up from the chair".
But I have learned that a mistaken usage of the word ...
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What's the word おしきた?
What exactly is the world おしきた used here? The character propose to make a chat room for the first year and they all agree.
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Is 大記録 specific to baseball domain? What does it mean exactly?
I came across the following sentence in my textbook:
歴史的な大記録を作った斎藤{さいとう}選手は、祝福の拍手にこたえて帽子をとって軽くおじぎをした。
From the kanji themselves, it's clear that the word 大記録 means big or great 大 record 記録. My problem ...
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Whats the native word for poison/toxin?
I was looking for the native word used before どく (which is obviously a loanword). In Kagoshima-ben its どっ in Okinawan ドゥク /ルク which also seem like loanwords from chinese. Thanks in advance.
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Dividing months in ways beside 旬間
I know that there is a method of dividing the month in Japanese into 旬: 上旬、中旬、下旬. However, I also could've sworn that there was at least one, even two other ways to divide the month into sections. I ...
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What does ボール運び mean, exactly? Is it only used in basketball?
I came across the following example sentence in my textbook:
ボール運びのうまさにかけては中井{なかい}選手の右に出るものはいない。
Nakai is second to none at ボール運びing.
I looked up ボール運び in my go-to dictionaries but came up with no ...
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whats does ては and みた mean in this sentence?
Context: A character is remembering a conversation he had with his father, and he then thinks:
でかいこと言ってはみたものの、
I know that でかいこと言う means "say something big", but I don't know what ては means,...
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掃除機 vs. 集塵機 vs. 吸塵機
Which would be the difference between 掃除機, 集塵機 and 吸塵機 for saying "vacuum cleaner"?
I always use 掃除機, since it is the word I hear the most, but I'm interested in enriching my vocabulary, and ...
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What's the frequency level of 時々?
Sometimes it's translated as 'often', sometimes 'at times'. It's confusing.
How often, exactly, is 時々?
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Can anyone check my understanding of 答え 返事 回答 解答 正解
This is how I understand those words In the 返事 circle, you could use the word response but 返事 is broader than 回答. In interview context, the response you said could be either 返事or回答. But you can't use ...
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What is being said here that implies being less violent/hotheaded (expression involving 猫{ねこ}?) [closed]
In Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu, Fredrica Greenhill (a normally very kind and nice lady) reunites with Julian Minci (who's also very mild-mannered and nice). For context, both are part of the military.
After ...
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What can you say that has the same meaning as "Also, ..." at the beginning of a sentence?
When switching topics or asking an additional question in English, you usually start with "also". Like someone might ask "What movie do you want to see?" and then say "Also, ...
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Is there a different in context or meaning between "健康診断" and "身体検査" when referring to a medical checkup?
Are they synonyms or is there specific context for each use? Do they both mean different types of medical examinations?
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The (apparently) same sequence of symbols in an Aikido diploma results in weirdly different translations in Google Translator. Can someone explain?
According to the posting guidelines, this is a bit off-topic: I'm not learning Japanese. But I have two Aikido degree certificates where the part that seems to describe the degree results in different ...
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what's the difference between 居る and 要る
In a sentence like "彼氏がいる" in spoken dialogue, I can't differentiate between "I need a boyfriend" and "I have a boyfriend".
I'm thinking that 要る can't be used for people, ...
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What is 「くりゃあ」a contraction of?
From SAO OVA:
海の中で困ってる人とくりゃあ 人魚と相場が決まってるぜ
What is 「くりゃあ」a contraction of? I know that contractions like this happen a lot (そりゃ, etc.), I just don't know which word this comes from.
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What does トコ mean in this sentence
TW: Some minor adult content. I'm not sure if this is warrented but I know anyone of any age could be on here so just in case.
Context: In the scene, a girl is describing why she hates someone. She ...
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What is this usage of of double ような?
The context is the following: The character is writing a report of the previous night, however he wants to hide details to his boss, in this case the fact they fought each other (同士打ち) More so, he's ...
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What is this usage of いざなってみたら
It seems to be the verb 誘う but I don't think any of the meaning fits? I'm gonna guess みたら is "After I tried to do x" but I don't get the verb.
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内 (uchi) 肉 (niku) - is there a third word with 3 人 in its kanji?
内 is uchi (inside) and 肉 is niku (meat) - is there a third word with 3 人 in its kanji character?
I am asking because a website mentions that the word 肉 contains the radical 人, ref: https://jisho.org/...
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In what sense does 多様性 imply "diversity"?
"Diversity" can often mean diversity in sexuality, gender, and race. But, strictly speaking, "diversity" in English can also imply diversity in viewpoints, age, experience, social-...
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"とくてい" (or どくてい) meaning "doxxing"? (modern internet lingo)
In Yoru no Kurage wa Oyogenai, everyone is (in my eyes @.@) a bunch of zoomers/gen alpha with brainrot that are trying to become influencers, and use a bunch of unfamiliar new internet slang >.<....
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What is a 受け身も取れず?
感情的な受け身も取れず、そりゃ大騒ぎもしますよ」
Googling around 受け身も取れず seems to be used to indicate this
誰かに攻撃的な言動や行動をされた時に、上手くかわすことが出来ない。
So he's saying "Without being able to skillfully dodging the issue" ...
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キャリア? What definition is correct?
天道と伊波が地図を覗き込みながら協議している。様々なシチュエーションを想定しながら意見を述べるあたり、さすがのキャリアというべきか。
The character is watching his two colleagues discuss about the next plan for their mission...
I understand the sentence up to this ...
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How to write "Production/Packaging/Bottling Line" in Japanese?
How to write "Line" in japanese considering I want to mean Production/Packaging/Bottling line ?
線 <= for me it's line but like something you draw
台詞 <= there is also this one, but it's ...
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Vocabulary question: usage of 推考
I ran across the following passage:
しかし、この集はまた実によくできていて、『奥の細道』にも十分に匹敵する文芸作品となっている。これは、集内の句を別にすれば芭蕉が『奥の細道』以後も、詞書などの句文等に推考しておいたためである。
(full text here)
My problem came up with the sentence in bold (the ...
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Meaning of はっきりせんかい [duplicate]
I've encountered this in multiple places:
A game script I'm translating has a psychic exclaim "はっきりせんかい！" right before having a vision of the protagonist's future.
A tweet "...
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本来なら in this sentence
The following is taken from the anime Konosuba!. The main character has just died while trying to save a girl from being run over by a tractor which would have stopped in time anyway. Once in the ...
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Meaning of 牽制 in this news
In this news, the speaker says
また、アメリカを念頭に「ある大国が大量の武器を台湾に売り、独立の機運を助長している」と牽制{けんせい}しています。
I think I get the gist of it: "With America in mind" and "A certain big country is selling a ...
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Understanding [number]+つ手前
I am bit confused with the construction [number]+つ手前. Here are some examples of its usage:
終点の二つ手前で降りる
名古屋の一つ手前の駅
橋の一つ手前の角を右に曲がる
信号の 1 つ手前の角を右に曲がる
I kind of understand how it works in the first ...
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meaning of 決める in もうダッシュ決めてたんだろ
so, I was listening to a song by そらる (an utaite/singer), called 自己採点 (link to the YouTube MV here). and the first line of the song left me kind of intrigued as to what 決める means there. the line here ...
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Why is "J-Pop" written in Japanese sometimes "Jポップ"?
Trying to learn Japanese with the DuoLingo app, I recently stumbled over the term "Jポップ" for J-Pop.
I'm curious why the term "J-Pop" is written as "Jポップ" in the app. So, ...
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What does 腕鳴らしに殺されてくれ mean
For context. The character is introducing herself to the villain. After she states her name, she wields a sword made from the bones of someone she just killed and says this before engaging in a fight ...
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浸る as 「ひたる」or 「つかる」
As the title says, I was wondering the difference between the two pronunciations: I encounter them in the first case as
「その思い出に浸る{ひたる}」
and the second is
「水に浸かる{つかる}」
but I do not know when one ...
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Where do i put "簡単" on my sentence?
Im not really good at the sentence structure and my question is, if i want to say "I can speak english easily" do i say "僕は英語簡単を話すできる" or "僕は英語を話すできる簡単", I just want to ...
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What do you call the food that's in bento boxes when it's homemade?
There's this nice Japanese food in the US that's sold in restaurants under the name bento boxes. It invariably consists of a meat dish (usually sushi or teriyaki), white rice, and a small salad with ...
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"Ka no taikoku shin" = China? [Rurouni Kenshin Live Action]
The Rurouni Kenshin Live Action movie (2012) is set in 1878 Tokyo Japan. In it, a high-ranking general (Yamagata) talks about how opium (アヘン) (which is spreading through japan) might destroy Japan as ...
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Meaning of ほしいままにする
From 四畳半神話大系 by 森見登美彦:
我々はブロック塀に挟まれた路地に立ち尽くした。街灯の光が届かない闇の中でもじもじし、誰かに見られればその場で通報されて然るべき胡散臭さをほしいままにした。
While I'm pretty sure I understand the general gist, I don't quite understand the use of ほしいままにした....
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what does なんだ mean here?
I cant find a definitive definition for なんだ when used in a sentence such as じゃあなんでここなんだ （Why are you here？)?
Is it the same as 何だ? This seems to only be used as an interjection and as a sentence ender....
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How does the "jidaigeki Japanese" used in Shogun differ from actual speech in the 1600s?
The dialog in the Shōgun series (2024) is supposedly in "old" Japanese, but here on Japanese.SE we know better: it's actually "jidaigeki Japanese" as spoken in Japanese period ...
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どうにも、どうにか、いかにも、どうか、どうもの中にパターンが潜在していますか？
いつも（どうにも、どうにか、いかにも、どうか、どうも）という種類の単語を聞いたり読んだりすると、パターンがいかにもあると感じます。
どう思われますか？
具体的に言えば私が話しているパターンは見かけ上共通の語源を持っていて1つの助詞を変えて1つ追加したり2つ追加したりすると意味が異なることを理解したいと思っています
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What's a prototypical example of モラハラ (moral harassment)?
I'm not exactly sure what モラハラ is. All I can tell is that it's strongly associated with workplace bullying. But I don't really understand how "moral harassment" might be a thing. Is it kind ...
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Do 果物/野菜 follow the scientific definition (e.g. an eggplant is a 果物), or the casual definition (e.g. an eggplant is a 野菜)?
In English, fruit and vegetable have actual scientific meanings, which make eggplant, tomato and zucchini fruits. However, most people just ignore the actual definition and like to just say those are ...
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Differences/Similarities Between そうすると and そうしたら
Just learned the grammar point そうすると and was wondering is そうしたら is the same thing.
For example, would
早く大学を卒業したいです。そうすると、仕事ができる be the same as 早く大学を卒業したいです。そうしたら、仕事ができる？
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What is this usage of “すごい的” and “言えよ”
The context is that a character is being hit on on the street and person doing so says:
大人の色気？ 脱いだらすごい的な。
お前エロいなー！ オクユカシイって言えよ。
The “的” following the plain form of an adjective I've never seen ...
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What does こちらとしても mean?
（君が）そこまでの無理を強いるのはこちらとしても不本意なんだが！
I'm confused by what こちらとしても means. Here's what I can put together so far. こちら means "this direction" and generally refers one's side or oneself. として, the ...
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Is 「太太」("wife") pejorative? Archaic?
Jisho gives no example sentences using this term. Is it now considered archaic, pejorative, provincial? Would one use it referring to oneself, to someone else?
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Difference between 粒子物理学 and 素粒子物理学
I was trying to tell a Japanese friend that I am studying particle physics, but I didn't know the word for this branch of physics, so I looked it up online.
From what I could find, it should be 粒子物理学, ...
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