18
votes
Accepted
Is it more common to write "wakarimasu" with or without kanji?
Here are the hit counts from BCCWJ.
All entries (1971-2008):
わかった: 6492 分かった: 1739 解った: 130
わかります: 2834 分かります: 1065 解ります: 109
おはよう: 1300 お早う: 84
ありがとう: 7090 有難う: 420 有り難う: 102
Recent entries (2000-)...
- 306k
15
votes
Should I use 竜 or 龍?
Putting aside the etymology (I did not know which is older), both 竜 and 龍 are very common today, and are actively used by many people. I don't think one is "essentially more beautiful" than the other. ...
- 306k
13
votes
Accepted
How obscure is the use of 令 in 令和?
All the previous nengo are from Chinese Classical Chinese texts - this should set a precedence that, if you aren't familiar with the Chinese Classics, you wouldn't (fully) understand the choice of ...
- 9,075
12
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between 始め 初め and 始まり?
始【はじ】め and 初【はじ】め
These are both the stem or noun forms (technically, the 連用形【れんようけい】) of verb はじめる ("to begin something, to start something", transitive / 他動詞【たどうし】).
In terms of usage, the ...
- 36.8k
11
votes
How obscure is the use of 令 in 令和?
As a matter of fact, I did not even recall the meaning of "command/order" when I first saw 令和. 令 struck me as "just another nice-sounding kanji".
Although 玲 and 怜 may be more popular, 令 is not rare ...
- 306k
10
votes
Accepted
What's the difference between 上手い, 美味い, 旨い, and 巧い?
These can be divided into two large categories.
上手い ≒ 巧い ≒ good at something, skillful
彼女は料理がうまい。 She is good at cooking.
美味い ≒ 旨い ≒ delicious, yummy
この料理はうまい。 This dish is delicious.
The ...
- 306k
10
votes
Accepted
What would be the most apt word in kanji, for "Animal world"?
人間界 is very commonly used for this purpose, and I recommend you accept this term unless you really have a good reason. 人間界 just means "the world where humans exist", and everyone understands that ...
- 306k
10
votes
Accepted
Is there a word for “using a wrong kanji”?
You can simply use [誤字]{ご・じ} to mean the wrong letter. I believe it's applicable to both kanji and kana.
If you ever take the [漢検]{かん・けん}, starting in level 4 there is a section called [誤字訂正]{ご・じ・てい・...
- 43.9k
10
votes
Is it more common to write "wakarimasu" with or without kanji?
Indeed, わかる is mostly written in kana.
Corpus data gives the following proportions:
わかる 58280 71%
分かる 17700 22%
解る 2964 4%
判る 2580 3%
A priori there seems to be no ...
- 48k
10
votes
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 ...
- 2,359
9
votes
Accepted
Why is the name of the whisky "TOKI" written as 季?
... what might be the reasoning for naming the whisky "season(s)" and then "translating" it to the Kanji "time(s)" 時{とき}?
The word "time" can refer to many ...
- 36.8k
8
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between 飲む and 呑む?
Maybe you know that to say "to take a pill" in Japanese you would say 丸薬をのむ. (I did not put the kanji of のむ intentionally).
飲む is used to say to drink. I mean, to absorb a liquid through your mouth ...
- 7,033
8
votes
Should I use 竜 or 龍?
It seems to me the answers given so far could be improved and I also find them to be a bit too much opinion-based. Nobody really gave any insight about the etymology and origins of those characters.
...
- 7,886
8
votes
Difference between 粗い and 荒い
Both happen to be translated as "rough", but I think their antonyms will help:
粗い is an antonym for 細かい/なめらか/fine-grained/detailed/smooth/etc.
粗い計算, 粗い見積もり, 粗いサンドペーパー, 粗く挽いたコーヒー豆
荒い is an antonym ...
- 306k
8
votes
Accepted
Difference between 嵌まる and 填まる
At the kanji level, 嵌 is not in the joyo kanji list, and it primarily means "inlay" or "pit(fall)". 填 is a variation of a joyo kanji 塡, but the reading of は-まる is not listed in the joyo kanji list. It ...
- 306k
7
votes
Accepted
Variations in the "same" kanji, how do you know which one to use?
What is this kind of variation called? Like is there a name for it?
In English they are called "variant (character)", in Japanese 異体字 itaiji. There are different types of variants, often though ...
- 48k
7
votes
Accepted
How do I find the right meaning of homonyms 同音異義語 via audio?
By accent. See: Is there any difference when pronouncing 橋 and 箸?
はし【HL】（箸）、はし【LH】（端）、かき【HL】（牡蠣）、かき【LH】（柿）
By context.
すいせいですか、きんせいですか？ → 水星ですか、金星ですか？
すいせいですか、ゆせいですか？ → 水性ですか、油性ですか？
すいせいですか、りくせいですか？ ...
- 306k
6
votes
Accepted
Using 音読み to write foreign names
For Western names, practically speaking, Katatana is best. If you're a citizen of a country where Kanji is used on official documents like your passport, say... China or Korea, then it is common to ...
- 7,351
6
votes
What's the difference between 上手い, 美味い, 旨い, and 巧い?
Naruto's answer covers it well, but it might be helpful to think of these words in terms of their analogues in other uses.
For example, 上手い can obviously be connected to 上手{じょうず}, the basic word for ...
- 18.4k
6
votes
Accepted
How are 憧れる and 憬れる different?
There's no semantic difference, only stylistic one, as long as being used to write the word あこがれる.
憧 is the primary choice because this is the original kanji designated for the word. 憬 didn't have ...
- 50.6k
6
votes
悟る vs 気づく vs 分かる Satoru vs Kizuku vs Wakaru
悟る is much more nuanced and much less common than 気づく/分かる, but it still can be used safely in day-to-day conversations of ordinary people. Outside religious/philosophical contexts, 悟る is basically ...
- 306k
6
votes
Accepted
How to express "Stone Master" as a compliment
The kanji 主 means "master (of a slave)", "master (of a pet)", "owner", "governor", etc., but it does not mean he is an expert of something. If you simply want to say "grand master (of martial art)", ...
- 306k
6
votes
Accepted
What do all the different たすける's mean?
助ける is the most common way to write たすける using kanji. It means to save someone from danger, the same as expressed in the word 救助する. It's the only kanji with たすける as a joyo reading.
扶ける means to lend ...
- 3,084
6
votes
Accepted
What is the difference in usage between 闘う and 戦う?
According to The Kodansha Kanji Usage Guide dictionary:
戦う has these meanings:
wage war, fight
contest, contend, play a match [game]
And 闘う is:
(struggle with) fight (against), contend with, ...
- 6,573
6
votes
Accepted
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 ...
- 43.9k
6
votes
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 ...
- 306k
6
votes
Accepted
What's 火垂る and why is it so rare?
The word "火垂る" in "火垂るの墓" is just an ateji.
The meaning is somewhat clear from the movie itself, which is a visualization of the Kobe Air Raid during World War II.
In the film, ...
- 1,982
5
votes
Accepted
Why would one write 譬｛たと｝える this way?
譬 is one of the old and rare kanji for たとえる, and IMO you can safely ignore this kanji. The only people who use this kanji today are certain kind of novelists who are inclined to use nonstandard kanji ...
- 306k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible