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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How to say "find again" in Japanese?
In French, there is a verb "retrouver" (literally "re-find", or "find again") which means "find something that you lost and were searching for" (there the ...
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What does "B.D." mean here? (Birdie Wing)
In Birdie Wing, Eve is being led blindfolded to a golf match that she has to do to settle a mafia dispute. While being explained this absurd premise, she says something in Japanese which is translated ...
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When to use させていただきます vs いたします？
I have read this answer, and while it helped me understand how the term came about, I am still confused about when it is ok or not to use it.
I understand is mostly ok to use it in situations where ...
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What does うち農家 mean? [duplicate]
うち農家で兄弟も多いからオレが料理することが多かったんだ
Is 農家 normally used for just one person, a family or a place?
If it means "farmhouse" in this sentence, then I think うち could mean "home" and it could ...
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"B" meaning "hot and heavy"?
In Maison Ikkoku, the title of episode 60 is "見ちゃった！響子{きょうこ}と三鷹{みたか}がいきなりB？！", which is translated to "Caught in the Act! Kyoko and Mitaka-Hot and Heavy!"
My question is, what is &...
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What is the W for Ｗワーク
Just as the title, what is the W in Ｗワーク?
There is also those
U-turn
I-turn.....etc
Could you elaborate why is it just a single leter and what is the meaning of it?
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How is テンション used in Japanese?
When I looked it up in my dictionary, all I got was 'tension,' when I have first hand knowledge that this definition RARELY is used with this word, in Japanese. Commonly, I see it in テンションが上がる, to ...
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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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Meaning of 生徒の不能性 in the following context [closed]
I came across this sentence:
さまざまな授業内容で生徒の不能性を引き出します。
I understand it's supposed to mean something along the lines of
"A variety of teaching contents brings out the potential of the students"...
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Grammar and meaning of a Taisho era sentence
I'm having some problems understanding the following sentence (it comes from a Taisho era story):
丁度女が額の真廂《まびさし》をむきつけに電燈の光で射向けられるやうな寂しくもけうとい感じがした
My understanding of it is:
I felt forlorn and ...
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Meaning of 科 and how to say "Bachelor's degree" in Japanese
I'm completely lost on how university studies work in Japan, and I don't know what exactly Japanese university students mean when they talk about 科 (か). Often when they mention the studies they are ...
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Example of a ～局, ～部 and ～課 in a company
Could you please help me to find an example of a ～局, ～部 and ～課 in a company?
Looking for the definition of ～部 in Jisho, it says ～部 refers to a department in a company, for example, 経理部 (accounting ...
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Japanese spelling and meaning of "conohen" or "conoheng"?
I heard the word "conohen" in a video (pronounced somewhat like "conoheng").
What is the word and what does it mean?
Is it kansaiben?
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Meaning of noun + を挙げて
In Last Period: Owarinaki Rasen no Monogatari a village chief is imposing retirement on a male guide which relaunched turism in the realm, and he wants to made a group of beautiful girl guides; at one ...
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Ghost word and Ghost Kanji in Japanese
In Japanese, are there any words/kanji that are written in dictionarys but actually don't exist at all? Like the "Ghost word" in English.
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The meaning of つま先を突っ張らせて in this context (describes a person's toes)
I met this expression in an eroge, but find it's hard to understand. My guess is "Her toes were constricted "( ? ) but i'm not sure.
Context is a H-scene, where the protagonist
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The meaning of 『カン』 and 気配の察知
A character is talking about his abilities in the Adventurer's Guild. I don't understand what does these terms means here. (『カン』 and 気配の察知, i guess he meant "6th sense" but not sure )
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Any significant difference between 比較する (hikaku suru) and 比べる (kuraberu) for meaning "compare"?
In a jdrama I'm watching (Kazoku Game, for those who're curious), a little boy tells his older brother "兄ちゃんと比較されなければもっと普通に生きられたんだよ!" (if I wasn't compared to nii-chan, I'd've been able to ...
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あて with meaning "per"
I've found in this site
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E3%81%82%E3%81%A6
that ~あて can be used with meaning "per" (jisho confirms it as well), and the site shows this example
一人【ひとり】あて三冊【...
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Can you help me know what does "カンジ" means?
I came across a drawing tutorial about colouring eyes on pixiv. And there is this sentence:
こんなカンジの目を描きたい人向け。
I know カンジ reads as "Kanji". But if you put in the sentence and the content ...
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Japanese prepositional phrases
In the same way that in English and other languages as well there are groups of expressions classified as "prepositional phrases"
For example: "in spite of", "in response to&...
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The different ways to say "forever"
皆さん、こんにちは!
I have a somewhat basic but intricate question about the way the Japanese say forever or something close in concept (sayings, expressions or poetic ways would work too).
The context is that ...
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啓発本 (keihatsu-bon) = self-help book = a common word? Any insight on this?
In the latest season (S6) of Boku no Hero Academia, basically a mom was trying to help her kid by giving some advice about not having such a chip on his shoulder. But the edgelord kid reacted with &...
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Proper way to say "Grocery store" and what types of stores this usage applies to
What is the proper way? According to jisho, it seems as simple as saying 食{しょく}品{ひん}店{てん}? In the case of a Walmart, Target, GameStop Costco or Family Dollar could these all be considered 食{しょく}品{ひん}...
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Could someone please explain to me the meaning of もち in the following sentence?
私たちは自然の流れとは別の生活リズムをもち始め、次第に自然との調和を失い始めたのです。
I searched but couldn't find an answer.
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のなんのって and variations
Do the structures のなんのって, のなんのと and のなんのといって / のなんのと言って refer to the same and can be used interchangeably? If so, is there also any other variation of のなんのって that can be used in the same way?
A time ...
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How could you improve the word Hikari-tai (火雷隊) as a name
This might be a subjective question
Okay first things first, this question is more about trying to come up with a better name that doesn't disrespect or butcher the language. And I'm not really ...
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Translating a combination of superpower/special talent - does 異能殊才 work? [closed]
I am attempting to combine 異能 (i nō - supernatural power) with 殊才 (koto sai - special talent), with the finished phrase being written as 異能殊才.
With various engines (I'm RomajiDesu for this specific ...
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What is being said here instead of 逮捕状 (taihojou [arrest warrant]) (from Yakuza Lost Judgement)?
During Yakuza Lost Judgement, detective Watanabe says the line "we even have a warrant", and the official japanese subtitles have the line written as "逮捕状も出てる". To my knowledge, ...
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How do Japanese people say "bed" as in the physical bed?
My textbook (JFZ series) gives the word bed as ベッド which makes sense as the western bed (on legs) wouldn't have existed in Japan a long time ago.
The dictionary also gives 床 and 寝.
I presume young ...
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What term is used for different types of smoking (e-cigs, vapes, cigars)?
If someone wants to smoke a cigarette in your presence, they might ask "タバコいいっすか？". I've also heard it referred to as 煙 (kemuri). I'd imagine those terms work for cigars as well (however ...
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The meaning of 「春夏秋…」 with particles in 「夕焼けの歌」 song lyrics
The lyrics of 夕焼けの歌 by Masahiko Kondo contains the following parts:
ゆらゆらとビルの都会に広がる
あの頃と同じ 夕焼け空
クソ食らえとただ
アスファルト 蹴りつけ
ああ春夏秋…と
ゆらゆらと俺の頬に焼きつく
あの頃と同じ 夕焼け空
土下座したいほど
愛が欲しいだけ
ああ春夏秋…も
I have 2 questions ...
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言わば、言うなれば、言うならば and 言ってみれば
Do all the expressions 言わば、言うなれば、言うならば and 言ってみれば mean "so to speak" and can be used interchangeably or is there any difference between them?
I can't get very well the differences in nuances ...
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Japanese hashi (はし) (箸) and Chinese zhu4 (箸) (extra dot above sun character)
I was wondering why the Japanese character for hashi (はし) (箸), seems to have an extra character stroke when compared to the Chinese character zhu4 (箸).
In both Japanese and Chinese, this character, ...
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Polite language vs Casual language [duplicate]
The following is from a wedding invitation:
このたび私たちは結婚式を挙げることになりました。つきましては日々お世話になっております皆様方をお招きしてささやかですが小宴を開催したいと存じます。ご多用中誠に恐縮ではございますがぜひご出席をいただきたくご案内申し上げます。敬具。
I have a particularly hard time ...
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Connotation of 酩酊 (meitei), meaning "drunkenness"?
In Yakuza Judgement, a person (who allegedly committed murder) was described with the phrase "酩酊状態にあった" (they were found in a state of drunkenness). However, the official subs translate/...
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Difference between "urayamashii" and "netamashii" for "jealous"? [duplicate]
I'm completely familiar with "urayamashii" to mean "jealous". But in Yakuza Judgement, I heard the term "netamashii" used instead. The context was that the prominent ...
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What does 勢い mean here?
In Steins Gate 0 the following conversation happens between the protag おかべ and a character ひやじょう
比屋定さん…
どうして ここに…
えっ？ あ いや つい勢いっていうか…
勢い？
The context is, that okabe visited his friend だる in their ...
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"to open" and "to close" talking about shop
How to say "at what time does this shop open?" / "at what time does this shop close?".
My dictionary gives no example of this sort with the verbs 開ける, and 開く.
I found 開店する and 閉店する,...
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what is 現地では市民 and does the sentence lose it original meaning if we change it to 現地の市民
クーデターから2年を迎える1日、現地では市民が外出を控える「サイレント・ストライキ」と呼ばれる抗議活動が行われる予定です。
https://news.tv-asahi.co.jp/news_international/articles/000285667.html
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自転車は、忙しい車道じゃなく、歩道を走るべきだ。
This is a wanikani example sentence, and I posted about it on their community tab, but users here tend to have a much better grasp on linguistics etc, so I will ask here.
How is the grammar ...
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カン - What does it mean in this context?
I'm playing through a game and came across the below line. It is read by an old man in a fantasy setting - think knights.
ワシのカンは あたったようじゃな。
From my understanding, ワシ means "I" but mainly ...
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Different combinations of せっかく, their meanings and examples
As of today, the vast majority of times I've come across せっかく, I've ended up understanding it in a somewhat blurry way and guessing the meaning from context. However, I would like to finally structure ...
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Help identifying a character from a picture [closed]
I've tried using handwriting identification and building it from radicals, but no luck. The closest I found was き and I’m not sure if it’s that character but the source text uses both き and this one, ...
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What does 凸 mean here?
In Yakuza 6, former idol Haruka is looking at an online article about how, as a surrogate daughter of a yakuza, she was spotted in an orphanage in Okinawa.
One of the comments on the article says &...
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Which dialect uses "けえ" instead of "から"?
In Yakuza 6, a guy called Nagumo speaks with a dialect. Just an example of one line from him is
"今度こそ白黒つけちゃるけえの"
which, in regular japanese, I'm assuming is
"今度こそ白黒つけてやるからな"
...
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What's the best way to use 'いつなんどき'?
The examples I've seen in different dictionaries seen to imply very specific contexts the word is used in, many involving (verb)か分からない and かも知れない, but I haven't seen anything concrete about proper ...
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Why does 「G」 stand for "excessive depiction of violence" (on ニコニコ)?
The website ニコニコ marks manga with sexual content with the letter H and with excessive depiction of violence with the letter G. If you really feel the need to see an example, this manga is marked with ...
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What's the word for "slang" in Japanese
俗語{ぞくご}
隠語｛いんご｝
スラング
These are some of the results I got from jisho.org and jpdb.io for the word "slang".
For example, If I were to say, "dekai is slang for big" in Japanese, how ...
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How would you address a younger step-parent / older step-child?
Like this but way more insane: Younger uncles and aunts (But I believe this sorta happened in House of the Dragon, prequel / spin-off of of Game of Thrones)
Let's say widow Viserys Tanaka had ...
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