Browsing the blog archives for February, 2010
ka-waru, ka-eru, yo, dai, tai The verb kawaru means to take place of something like positions, which is sometimes related to a responsible job. One of the compounds that represent this sense is dairi meaning a deputy or a representative. With the same characters and mother, the noun dairihaha means surrogate mother. Delivery by a [...]
maru-i, en Yen is the unit of money used in Japan. One hundred yen is hyakuen. Japanese “hyakuen shoppu” is equivalent of a dollar store. Shoppu is written in katakana. Prices are either takai (high) or yasui (low). When a dollar is expensive, we call the tendency endaka. Daka is the voiced sound of taka, [...]
furu-i, ko The adjectives furui and furubita mean old. The “i” of furui and the “bita” of furubita is in hiragana. The adjective “furumekashii“ means oldish. Chūko means something used or second-hand. Draw the horizontal line from the left to the right. Draw the vertical line. Draw the left side of the rectangle. Draw the [...]
ko, shi, su This character means a child or the Rat of the oriental zodiac. The former is ko; the latter, ne. The recent year of the Rat, nedoshi, was two years ago. The next nedoshi is year 2020. A child in general is called kodomo. Domo used to be a suffix meaning plural but [...]
saki, ma-zu, sen The noun saki means ahead or future. The way ahead is also saki. If you have been to Japan, you might have seen a sign saying, “kono saki ikidomari,” which means this road leads to a dead-end. Kono means this and ikidomari means a dead-end. Yukisaki means a destination. Ki is in [...]
gei This character means art but the noun “gei” sounds like popular entertainment, such as performance. We can regard gei as accomplishments. Let’s see what kinds of gei require much skill. Dai dōgei means a street performance. Kōgei means craft, which includes tōgei (ceramic art) and shitsugei (Japanese lacquer art). Shugei means handcraft. Bungei means [...]
ya, shi An arrow is “ya” in Japanese. Arrows are also “ya.” Yumiya means a set of a bow and an arrow. If somebody asks you to do something ceaselessly, you are suffering from “ya no saisoku,” literally meaning a request like arrows. Saisoku means demand or a request. “Time flies” is translated as the [...]
ima, kon, kin The noun ima means now. Being read kon and combined with other characters, it exactly means “this present.” Let’s see some other words of this kind. Konya is tonight. Konshū is this week. Shū means a week. Kongetsu is this month. Kotoshi is this year. This word consists of today’s character and [...]
so-ru, han-suru, han The verb soru means “to bend” or “to arch.” The verb hansuru means “to be against.” The ru of soru and the suru of hansuru are in hiragana. The prefix han means “anti-.” Hankan means antipathy. If you feel it, you can say, “hankan wo idaku.” It literally means to hold antipathy. [...]
kō, ku This character implies activity that involves making something. In other words, roughly it means craft and engineering. Compounds including this character relate to these meanings. Craft Kōsaku means making, constructing, and maneuvering. It also implies handcraft, a school subject. Creators devise good ways to make something. Such an activity is called kuhū. Add [...]