Browsing the blog archives for August, 2009
kome, mai, bei Kome means rice. In Japan, most people eat rice every day. In Japanese, we say kome wo togu (to wash rice) and kome wo taku (to cook or steam rice), but we hardly say kome wo taberu (to eat rice – literally meaning). Cooked rice is gohan, so we say gohan wo taberu when [...]
nen-jiru, nen-zuru, nen Nen-jiru or nen-zuru is a verb. If you do this activity, you think about something or to desire for something. The accompanying jiru and zuru are okurigana. A proverb says nenzureba tsūzu. It means that if you keep desiring for or praying for, your dream comes true. There are two ways of interpreting [...]
omonpaka-ru, omonbaka-ru, ryo This character expresses attitude with careful thoughts. An often-used word using this character is enryo. The word enryo means reserve, constraint, hesitation, or consideration. The en of enryo means far away. We sometimes use this word when we decline an offer politely. For example, we say, “enryo shimasu,” meaning I will not [...]
ura-mu, ura-mi, kon To hold a grudge is the verb ura-mu. The noun grudge is ura-mi. The accompanying mu and mi are okurigana. The Korean read it han. The Korean han is more complicated than a grudge. It means mixed feelings of yearning, desire, sorrow, pathos, perplexity, and bewilderment (Japanese Wikipedia). The oppressed feel han; [...]
hi, nichi, jitsu, bi, ka Yesterday, I talked about the word “yesterday.” Putting saku (meaning yester- and being yesterday’s character) and jitsu (today’s character) together, we can make the word yesterday – sakujitsu or kinō (<- we cannot separate this word by reading). Similarly, the Japanese today and tomorrow need this character. For the word [...]
saku I meant recent past. If you want to mean the day before today, add another character that means a day – jitsu. We are going to show the character jitsu tomorrow. Read the formed word sakujitsu or kinou. Either reading is OK. The latter reading doesn’t tell us how each kanji is pronounced. You [...]
hi When putting up the character righteousness, I mentioned zehi – right or wrong. The hi of zehi is this character. Perhaps, if you visit Japan, you have seen this pictogram. >>> The word above EXIT is hijōguchi. The jō means ordinary or common. The guchi means an exit. First, draw three horizontal strokes on [...]
aka-rui, aki-raka, a-keru, a-ke, akira, aki, mei, myō The English bright is the Japanese aka-rui. We use this adjective both for lights and for futures. When we say something is aki-raka, it is clear. Akira is a man’s name. This character is also used for a woman’s name. Aki of Akiko sometimes has this character. [...]
ku-iru, ku-i, ku-yamu, ku-yami, kuya-shii, kai The Japanese ku-iru or ku-yamu is the verb regret. The Japanese ku-i is the noun regret. The Japanese o-ku-yami or ku-yami is condolence to offer. When you say kuya-shii, you are feeling chagrin. Kai is used with other characters. For example, kōkai is the noun regret. I have never [...]
ze, kore, kono Two main meanings of this character are righteousness and this. Ze is righteousness, and kore and kono are this. We only use ze these days. In the sense of kore and kono, it looks classical. We often use ze with hi meaning mistake in contrast. The word zehi means right or wrong. [...]