11
votes
Accepted
The thing in the left of 印
Good answer from @jogloran - here's an idea of the glyph evolution in case you're not convinced:
商甲乙112合集22148春秋金曾白𩃲簠集成4631秦簡秦律十八種睡虎地秦簡今楷
「印」 is comprised of a hand 「爪・爫」 pressing down on a ...
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10
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What's the difference between 鍵 and 鑰?
In short, the difference between 鍵 and 鑰 is that you can safely forget the second one unless you prepare for the top level of kanji recognition test.
鍵 (on-reading: ケン) is the normal way to spell かぎ ...
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9
votes
The thing in the left of 印
You're right that it's not a radical. For instance, the radical of 印 for dictionary purposes is actually 卩.
The "E" looking thing is actually a rotated version of the component 爪 found at the top of ...
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7
votes
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Can I use a Chinese newspaper to learn kanji radicals and maybe some kanji?
It is not a good idea to learn Japanese Kanji reading Chinese newspapers. Of course, a majority of Chinese characters used both in China and Japan have same or similar meanings, however, the grammar ...
- 2,078
7
votes
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Is 吾 a joyo kanji?
No. It's a Jinmeiyou kanji (which means it's used in names but isn't a Joyo kanji).
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7
votes
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Similarity between 挟む and 狭む
1. Why is the verb 狭{せば}む so rare/weird?
As user naruto said in the comments, the reason you don't see 狭{せば}む much in modern Japanese (and that your input method can't handle it) is that this is a ...
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7
votes
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Why is 噌 a Jinmeiyō kanji despite being used in 味噌?
According to Japanese 戸籍法 (Family Register Act):
第五十条 子の名には、常用平易な文字を用いなければならない。
Article 50 (1) For the given name of a child, characters that are simple and in common use shall be used.
２ 常用平易な文字の範囲は、...
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6
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How is writing with 旧字体 over 新字体, using lots of 表外漢字 and using 漢字 in place of かな in a word that is almost always written with かな perceived?
Some 表外漢字 like 狼 and 嘘 are perfectly safe in ordinary writing. Some are simply too difficult. It largely depends on the character. Personally I can read 鰐 but not 鰰/鱸. See also Why are the names of ...
- 292k
6
votes
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Why is りんご written in hiragana?
りんご can be written in kanji as 林檎. However, the second kanji is not a jōyō kanji, so the whole word is often written in kana.
The same happens with hundreds of other everyday items
みかん 蜜柑
しょうゆ 醤油
みそ ...
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6
votes
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What Unicode code points are needed to write Japanese Jōyō-Kanji?
The basic CJK Unified Ideographs (U+4E00 – U+9FFF) contain all of the characters defined in JIS X 0208 (aka 第1水準/第2水準), which contains almost all of the kanji in the current joyo-kanji list. As ...
- 292k
6
votes
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aru Kanji confusion
有る is for possession; 在る is for existence. Though there can be some overlap. And 或る (even though you didn't ask) is actually an adjective for "a particular/certain", like in ある日に....
So in this ...
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5
votes
aru Kanji confusion
Just a little bit of background on this:
As you mentioned, it is generally written as ある these days. In the past, there was a clearer differentiation based on grammatical properties, i.e. that 有る was ...
- 11.5k
4
votes
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can the same compound have different readings when having the same meaning?
Can the same compound have different readings when having the same meaning?
Yes!
There are two ways of reading Kanji. One is "訓読み" the Japanese reading of a Chinese character(Kanji) and the ...
- 2,876
4
votes
What constitutes as Kyūjitai Kanji?
The official answer is: the 旧字体 kanji are those that were officially matched to the corresponding simplified forms.
The official List of Jōyō Kanji by Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs has them in ...
- 2,224
4
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What's the difference between 鍵 and 鑰?
鍵{かぎ} seems to have explained in the other answer.
鑰{やく} is difficult to read. I have never seen this one as a standalone character. So, I searched to a little bit.
I found a book called 秘蔵{ひぞう}宝鑰{...
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3
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What's the difference between 鍵 and 鑰?
The difference is that 鍵 is the commonly used character in Japanese, being included in the 'Common Use' kanji list (常用漢字), while 鑰 is a rare variant which is almost obsolete in Modern Japanese.
So ...
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3
votes
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Does this kanji for "village" have 2 different meanings?
It does have the two meanings you mentioned: a unit of distance 里{り} (which is more or less 4km), and the meaning village 里{さと}.
Note that 里{り} is a counter. 一里｛いちり｝・二里｛にり｝・三里｛さんり｝… (be precise ...
- 7,003
3
votes
希硫酸, 稀硫酸? What’s the difference?
The matter is in the permitted kanji. The kanji 稀, 'rare,' is the proper choice for the word (cf. Chinese xīliúsuān 稀硫酸 same). It, however, is not included in the Jōyō list (though it is permitted for ...
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3
votes
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Importance of stroke order and writing kanji
The stroke order matters mostly in relation to handwriting. Although writing may be not the most prevalent way over typing nowadays, recent rise of touch devices allows people to easily input ...
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3
votes
Importance of stroke order and writing kanji
Since kanji shapes are heavily based on calligraphy, the stroke order and the subtle nuances of strokes (like hane, harai) are generally considered more important than the stroke order of Latin ...
- 292k
3
votes
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Kanji with Widely Differing Jōyō and JLPT Levels
For one thing, the frequency of a word and the level of a kanji are different concepts. Any kindergartener who can't even write hiragana knows the word 誕生日 ("birthday"), and it's naturally ...
- 292k
2
votes
Can I use a Chinese newspaper to learn kanji radicals and maybe some kanji?
I think you shouldn't learn Japanese Kanji by Chinese texts.
There are some difference between Japanese kanji and Chinese kanji.
For example, Japanese kanji has Kun-readings as you say, and some ...
- 24k
2
votes
Why is りんご written in hiragana?
In kanji りんご is 林檎, but as you may know 檎 is not a general-use kanji (常用漢字) thus it is not taught in school and is not supposed to appear in official writings. That is the reason why you will never ...
- 7,003
2
votes
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What are the names for the sets of kanji taught in secondary schools?
As far as I know there is no official name for the characters outside the prescribed kyouiku kanji list but inside the jouyou kanji list.
In addition, there are only guidelines for teaching the ...
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2
votes
Furigana: Usage and application
First of all, what is "common" or not "common" has a clear definition in terms of readings; by extension, words could be defined to be "uncommon" if they are written with ...
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2
votes
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Is 戈 a joyo kanji? What does it mean?
This glyph is both a radical, and an independent character: 戈. This has the on'yomi of ka, and the kun'yomi of hoko. The independent character isn't used much in either Japanese or Chinese. The ...
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2
votes
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Are there other examples of simplification like 稽→𥡴?
Essentially answered in the comment, but hopefully the following clarifies your question.
First of all, 常用漢字 is not about simplifying characters and almost never did, except 燈 → 灯.
https://ja....
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2
votes
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Are Jinmeiyō kanji part of the Hyōgai kanji?
The term 表外漢字 has somewhat different usage in technical sense and everyday parlage.
Strictly speaking, there are 1'022 official 表外漢字. They are those designated by the National Language Council of ...
- 2,224
2
votes
恋 written as 恋ひ and 恋ふ?
Modern noun [恋]{こい} ("love", generally referring more specifically to romantic or carnal love) is derived as the [連用形]{れんようけい} (also known as the "continuative form" or "stem ...
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2
votes
Accepted
How come some jōyō kanji for everyday concepts are very new additions?
These kanji are definitely taught. One way or another. I did not go through the education system in Japan so I cannot directly speak to what happens in the classroom. But I have several textbooks ...
- 7,879
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible