27
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What is the meaning of 金〇
This 金〇 is 金麦, a well-known beer brand by Suntory Ltd. You can see the character 麦 on the can.
Here 麦 is masked by the circle in order to avoid issues regarding trademarks or conflict of interest. ...
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22
votes
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What does it mean when multiple 々 marks follow a 、?
「々」is called「同{どう}の字{じ}点{てん}」it is used to repeat 1 previous character.
人人 = 人々
When there are multiple 同の字点 it means to repeat 'n' previous characters.
已及深更、深更後... =
已及深更、々々後...
&
令召右大辨、...
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14
votes
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What does 「／＼」 mean in this sentence?
This is supposed to be an iteration mark.
This type of iteration mark is usually only used in vertical writing (the traditional layout for Japanese writing). It looks like a big く but is twice as ...
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14
votes
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What do these symbols in manga mean?
This seems to be an encoding/typesetting issue and the "symbols" are indeed Greek letters Ψ, Π, π that seem to be displayed instead of !, ?, 〜.
There is another typographical oddity that suggests ...
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14
votes
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Japanese symbol for "Japanese language"
ES, DE, EN are all ISO codes -- "ISO" as in "International Standards Organization" (technically, it's the "International Organization for Standardization"). These codes ...
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13
votes
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Usage of Encircled Kanji
These are called 丸囲み文字.
丸囲み数字 or 丸数字 (①②③...) are very common, and their purpose is to write a numbered list of items. The equivalent in English is (1) (2) (3) or i. ii. iii.. Characters ① to ⑳ have ...
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12
votes
Can 々 stand for a duplicated kanji with a different reading?
I wouldn't necessarily say 々 is used to avoid having to write the same kanji again, but rather to make it clear that the word is obtained by duplication of a character — moreover the reading should be ...
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10
votes
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How to pronounce "×"?
This type of × (indicates a close relationship between two things/people) is usually simply ignored, just as we do not bother to read ❤ or ★ aloud in titles and such. "ラビ×ラビ" is read as ラビラビ as if it ...
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10
votes
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How does one pronounce ≒ the symbol for "approximately"?
We pronounce/read ≒ as 「ニアリーイコール」 in maths class in Japanese schools.
For example, we read these:
10 ÷ 3 ≒ 3.3
「じゅうわるさん ニアリーイコール さんてんさん」
√2 ≒ 1.414
「ルート に ニアリーイコール いってんよんいちよん」
参考：
https://sci-...
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8
votes
What does 〇〇〇〇 mean when combined with おじさん？
〇〇 is used to mask/censor part of a word.
Why censor this one kanji?
What is the meaning of 金〇
In contexts related to otaku-ish hobbies, Xおじさん is recently used to form a slang word that means "(...
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8
votes
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Circle inside a circle character. What is it?
After doing some investigation, it seems that there are two Unicode characters which are made of a circle inside another circle:
◎ U+25CE BULLSEYE
⭗ U+2B57 HEAVY CIRCLE WITH CIRCLE INSIDE
In this ...
8
votes
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Meaning of ▽ in an article
As A.Ellett says, ▽ in this context is used as (in-line) bullet points. Although ・（中黒 {なかぐろ}）is the most commonly used for this purpose, the ▽ symbole ("down-pointing triangle") is ...
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7
votes
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Name of レ点 in 漢文
The レ点 means first read the next character (that is the character below since it was written from top to bottom at that time) then read the previous character.
Ex: 帰ル（レ点）国ニ should read 国に帰る.
Before, ...
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7
votes
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What does ㊙︎DVD mean?
This is a common abbreviation style to suggest a certain phrase by enclosing a single kanji in the word. Some frequently used symbols are now officially available on the computer (see 1, 2) due to ...
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6
votes
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What does 〇〇〇〇 mean when combined with おじさん？
〇〇〇〇 implies that various words are applied to 〇〇〇〇. For example, he might say 映画好きのおじさん、公務員のおじさん、車が趣味のおじさん and so on. But he doesn't say it concretely because he would just tell that he is a middle ...
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6
votes
Can 々 stand for a duplicated kanji with a different reading?
Yes. For example, here are two places in Chiba:
酒々井 (しすい)
行々林 (おどろばやし)
You could also make arguments for 神々廻 (ししば), too.
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6
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"Xうわ"? What is X in image?
"X" is not a glyph, it's a type of mark often used in manga in situations of surprise or similar reactions with some sudden emotional response. The same mark also appears above the woman on the left ...
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5
votes
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What does「ゝ」mean?
ゝ is used to indicate previous hiragana is repeated. In your example, you can regard the sentence to be exactly the same as below.
野山にまじりて、竹を取りつつ、萬づの事に使ひけり。
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5
votes
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What is the difference between a daimon and a mon or kamon?
代紋｛だいもん｝ refers exclusively to the crest of a yakuza group.
Think of it as a 家紋{かもん} for yakuzas.
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5
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What is the significance of the ☆ symbol?
The star symbols (☆★) have many distinct usages (from near-formal to informal) as a pair of typographical symbols which were available from the first edition of Japanese character set standard.
One ...
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4
votes
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Romanizations of Japanese using consonant diacritics?
No romanization systems currently in use today use diacritics on consonants. I think it's non-intuitive to both Japanese and English speakers.
Portuguese-style romaji was used in the 16th century, ...
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4
votes
What do the shapes △ ◯ ╳ ◻ mean in Japanese? And are there variations in meaning, depending on whether or not the shape is filled?
Would just like to add that ◯ can also be used as a placeholder. For example there's a TV show called 人志松本の◯◯な話. The equivalent in English would be "Matsumoto Hitoshi's _____ story".
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4
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What is the meaning of「一強・安倍政権」?
number + 強【きょう】 is a way of saying "top ～", "final ～ (in a tournament)", "Big ～".
4強入りを果たす to become one of the semifinalists
自動車業界の三強【さんきょう】 Big Three in the automotive industry
So 一強 here refers ...
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4
votes
What are these marks that sometimes appear above kanji/kana?
I don't know what they are called, someone else can answer to that. But those marks are for emphasis. It's the traditional equivalent of underlining, or bolding, or setting in italics. It can also ...
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4
votes
Appropriate typography for listing numbers in Japanese
It depends on which "context" (or "mode") you are in.
If you are writing a news article and trying to explain what primes numbers are within an ordinary Japanese sentence, you ...
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3
votes
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日本人は日本語で番号を書くなら、アメリカの小数点かヨーロッパのを書きますの？
日本語学習者です！
英語版ウィキペディアの記事「Decimal mark」によれば、日本において正しい書き方はアメリカと同じく「1.0」です。
記事にある地図には他の国の書き方も含めています。見てのとおり、イギリスも水色なので他の書き方（1,0）は「イギリス風」ではなく、ヨーロッパ風です。
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3
votes
What is the meaning of「一強・安倍政権」?
Corner brackets (「」) work just like quotation marks in English, as what WP says:
Quotation or direct speech: Carol said "Go ahead" when I asked her if the launcher was ready.
Mention in ...
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3
votes
What are these symbols?
In modern あいうえお, the column of わ is わいうえを, but it used to be わゐうゑを. The pronunciation of these were more like "we" and "way" as opposed to the normal い and え sound. I didn't know this myself, but ...
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3
votes
How to pronounce "×"?
Another possibility, depending on the context/title, is "cross" (「クロス」).
Street Fighter × Tekken → ストリートファイタークロス鉄拳
Street Fighter × Rockman → ストリートファイタークロスロックマン
Namco × Capcom → ナムコクロスカプコン
These all ...
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3
votes
What does this symbol mean?
It's three distorted small-tsu's in katakana (ッッッ), which is like !!!.
Related:
What does the little っ (tsu) signify when at the end of a word?
How would I indicate yelling when writing Japanese?
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