Skip to main content
15 votes
Accepted

The French language, furansugo vs futsugo

My guess is that ''furansugo'' is used in normal speech whereas ''futsugo'' is only used in very formal speech. You're on the right track. Nowadays the only European language called by its kanji name ...
broccoli forest's user avatar
13 votes
Accepted

What is the difference between 「変更」 and 「変化」?

変更 specifically refers to a human-caused update/modification of a plan, project, document, destination, etc. 変化 refers to change in general. As suru-verbs, 変更する is transitive, and 変化する is ...
naruto's user avatar
  • 337k
12 votes
Accepted

How to differentiate between rat and mouse

クマネズミ属{ぞく} is the Rattus genus, to which all "true" rats belong, whereas Mice belong to the ハツカネズミ属, or Mus genus. These genera are both subgroups to the sub-family ネズミ亜科{あか}, or Murinae. Now, these ...
a20's user avatar
  • 2,202
11 votes
Accepted

Is there any significant difference between 駆け回る and 駆け巡る?

Both mean mostly the same but are not very interchangeable. A general distinction would be 駆け回る is casual, means literally something is running about. Sometimes it has negative connotation of "...
sundowner's user avatar
  • 37.7k
11 votes
Accepted

What can you see or find at a 薬屋、薬局、ドラッグストアー respectively?

薬局 sell prescription drugs (処方薬) such as antihypertensives and diabetes pills. A more unambiguous term is 調剤薬局. Some of them also sell over-the-counter drugs (市販薬) that do not require a prescription ...
naruto's user avatar
  • 337k
10 votes
Accepted

Difference between 様々 and 色々

Etymologically speaking, いろいろ is 'full of colors', and さまざま 'various in one's appearance or figure', but this does not give us a reasonable answer. Answers and comments about the difference between ...
samhana's user avatar
  • 1,259
10 votes
Accepted

The meaning of 星人 vs 宇宙人

星人 is never used alone. It is used with specific names of planets like 火星人{かせいじん}(Martian), 金星人{きんせいじん}(Venusian), or ナメック星人. It means the habitants of a particular planet. FYI earthlings are 地球人. On ...
sundowner's user avatar
  • 37.7k
9 votes
Accepted

What is the difference between「家族【かぞく】」and「家庭【かてい】」?

Regardless of how they may be rendered in the natural English, 家族 always points to people, while 家庭 always place. In other words, 家族 is a group united by kinship or whatever that often lives together, ...
broccoli forest's user avatar
9 votes
Accepted

Differences between 栽培する, 作る, and 育てる for "grow"?

I guess you can use all three without sounding too odd in gardening contexts. 作る is more common for something edible and may imply growing for crops 育てる may be preferred for flowers (バラを作る is a bit ...
sundowner's user avatar
  • 37.7k
8 votes

What is the difference between 成熟 and 熟成?

I am a native speaker of Japanese. Your question is very interesting. Your recognition of 成熟 is more or less correct. We usually use 熟成 for food. It reminds me of good food which is taken a long time ...
Tomoko's user avatar
  • 141
8 votes
Accepted

What is the difference between 「結局【けっきょく】」and 「とうとう」?

「とうとう」implies a continual process that led to the outcome, whereas 「結局」doesn't. For example, one can say 「結局力不足なのだ」but not「とうとう力不足なのだ」because 力不足 is not a state achieved via a continuous process. On ...
Enno Shioji's user avatar
  • 16.9k
8 votes
Accepted

Unable to interpret these sentences: 「まいばんくにのかぞくにでんわします」「このまちにはゆうめいな建物があります」

First sentence まいばん くにの かぞくに でんわします。 I call my family at my home country every evening. First of all, the family is not making the call, but someone (probably the speaker, it could be someone ...
jarmanso7's user avatar
  • 7,082
7 votes

Parents-in-law in Japanese

A corpus is a good tool to answer this type of question yourself. 舅姑: 30 Hits (Many instances are from the same author born before 1960's) 義父母: 50 Hits (Many are from blog articles and chiebukuro ...
naruto's user avatar
  • 337k
7 votes
Accepted

difference between 介護士 and 看護師

介護士 are more like a social worker. They generally help the elderly and people with disabilities live normal lives by doing things like bathing them, changing their clothes, making food for them, ...
Ringil's user avatar
  • 8,544
7 votes

Why is there ベッドルーム when there's already 寝室?

Sometimes, loanwords sound simply cool and modern, and traditional words are too mundane or too direct. English speakers also have imported many new loanwords from foreign languages (café, siesta, ...
naruto's user avatar
  • 337k
7 votes
Accepted

When to use 仕上げ and when to use 仕上がり?

仕上げ is a noun corresponding to transitive to finish and 仕上がり to intransitive to finish. 仕上げ means someone's action of finishing/having finished something 仕上がり means something's finished state ...
sundowner's user avatar
  • 37.7k
7 votes

Can 混む and 込む be used interchangeably to mean "to be crowded?"

Here's an excerpt from 明鏡国語辞典 第三版: こ・む【込む・混む】[動五] ❶【混】ある場所に人や物などが集まって、いっぱいになる。混雑する。「通勤通学で電車が混む」「車で道が混む」「客で行楽地が混む」 ❷【込】行動の予定などがぎっしり詰まっている。「日程[予定]が込んでいる」 ❸【込】勝負事などで負けが重なる。「負けが込む」 ❹【込】仕組みや細工が複雑に入り組む。「...
naruto's user avatar
  • 337k
6 votes
Accepted

Telling the words 口唇 and 紅唇 apart contextually

How was 口唇 pronounced when you heard it? Anyway we only say くちびる for lips. If you have a chance to read 口唇, it's correct to pronounce it as こうしん. You may have no chance to hear こうしん for lips in daily ...
user20624's user avatar
  • 15.4k
6 votes
Accepted

What is the difference between 遠い and はるか?

You're correct to assume that 遥か and 遠い have different connotations and usage patterns; in fact, there's very little overlap between them. 遠い is your standard, general-use word for "far". It's ...
Ben Roffey's user avatar
  • 6,741
6 votes
Accepted

What's the difference between complaints 不満 不平 文句?

不満 Dissatisfaction or discontent, as literal as it reads. This word doesn't necessarily mean complaint, because it stands for an emotion and doesn't need to be expressed. 不平 Complaint about bad, undue,...
broccoli forest's user avatar
6 votes
Accepted

量、数 and 数量 (amount). Is there any of them that is used far more frequently than the other ones or are they pretty much equally used?

These are all used to describe or measure quantity. The difference is whether what is being measured is countable or not. 量 - How to show amount (weight, volume, proportion). Used for uncountable ...
BJCUAI's user avatar
  • 7,230
6 votes
Accepted

How do you define and contrast すっぱり すっぽり さっぱり and すっかり

Each has multiple nuances. I will write typical meanings and example sentences that are often used. すっぱり Cutting things sharply. えだをすっぱり切り落とした。 I hacked off a branch. The act of doing something ...
Miki's user avatar
  • 601
6 votes
Accepted

What is the difference between 討論 and 議論?

The last question is easy to answer: 議論 is closer. The character 討 carries a connotation of “battle”. 討論 certainly assumes there are opposing sides and possibly also that there will be a winner. For ...
aguijonazo's user avatar
  • 21.8k
6 votes
Accepted

凡人 vs 普通の人 for describing ordinary people

In terms of what they refer to, I guess there are no big differences. The nuance of 凡人 is negative-neutral. It means banal, ordinary as opposed to special, genius. The nuance of 普通の人 can be negative, ...
sundowner's user avatar
  • 37.7k
6 votes
Accepted

What's the difference between 埃{ほこり} and 塵{ちり} and 塵{ごみ}?

First, the kanji word 塵 is almost always read ちり. ごみ is usually written in hiragana or katakana. ごみ: As you say, "rubbish", "trash". It can be big like a broken PC. ほこり: This ...
naruto's user avatar
  • 337k
6 votes

Can 混む and 込む be used interchangeably to mean "to be crowded?"

Practically, if you mean crowded, the two are totally interchangeable. Note 込む as in 手が込んでいる (intricate often in a positive sense) cannot be replaced by 混む. That said, several web q&a (1, 2) ...
sundowner's user avatar
  • 37.7k
6 votes

Can you replace ただちに with word すぐに in order to convey the same meaning?

In addition to what naruto said, IMO ただちに emphasises how there is nothing in between, whereas with すぐ the emphasis is on how close in time it is. E.g. if one says ただちに離陸します it means there is nothing ...
Enno Shioji's user avatar
  • 16.9k
5 votes

What's the difference between "家" (ya), "屋" (ya), and "や" (ya) as used in the names of shops/stores/restaurants?

-屋{や} is also used in some words describing character traits, e.g. 恥{は}ずかしがり屋{や} (bashful person) 寂{さび}しがり屋{や} (lonely person) 寒{さむ}がり屋{や} (someone who gets cold easily, cold-blooded) くすぐったがり屋{や} (...
Igor Skochinsky's user avatar

Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible