naka, chū As you can see in the title, this character has a few meanings. The related words can be divided into two groups. Closeness or Intimacy Naka is either good (ii/yoi) or bad (warui) when it means a relationship. Nakayoshi means a friendship in a bit childish way. Naka also means intimacy especially when it’s [...]

abu-nai, aya-ui, aya-bumu, ki Have you ever seen tank lorries in Japan? Lorries often carry liquefied petroleum gas or other inflammable materials. So they have a sign showing this character meaning dangerous. We have adjectives, verbs, adverbs and compounds with this character. Adjectives Abunai means dangerous. So does ayaui but abunai is more common. If [...]

suku-i, suku-u, kyū Noun Sukui means help, rescue, salvation, relief or saver. Verbs Sukuu means to save. The passive verb sukuwareru means to be saved. Compounds Rescue can be expressed as kyūjo or kyūshutsu. “Jin mei kyūjo” means lifesaving. The Salvation Army is “kyūsei gun.” -Suru Verbs Some words mentioned above become -suru verbs. Both [...]

to-u, to-i, mon, ton Nouns When you mean questions, you can use toi, shitsumon, or mondai. However, these three words are not exactly the same. Toi is a philosophical question or a question asked in an examination. When you take a test, you might be asked, “tsugino toi ni kotaenasai.” That is, answer the following [...]

yū Today’s character means post station. We have only a few common words including this character. Mail is yūbin and a post office is yūbinkyoku. Yūsōryō means postage. Do you want to see other characters in kanji? Visit here.   Draw the sweeping stroke on the top. Draw the horizontal stroke under the previous stroke. [...]

u-tsu, da Before writing about today’s kanji, I’m going to answer a question. Dear Dizi, to answer your question, I’ll give you some advice about how to remember kanji. It’s hard to remember kanji. It’s hard to remember English words. We learned kanji by writing each character many times. Every elementary school kid does so. I [...]

no-biru, no-beru, no-basu, en Verbs Nobiru means to be postponed. Nobasu means to extend, to stretch out or to improve one’s ability. Compounds Enchō means putting off. “Enchō suru” means to postpone. It sometimes comes before other words. Draw the sweeping stroke on the top. Draw the vertical stroke. Draw the short horizontal stroke from [...]

  ka-neru, ken Verbs This character always deals with more than one thing. The verb “kaneru” means to have more than one thing or to have more than one duty. Compounds Ken’yō means serving two purposes. Kennin and kenmu are almost the same. Both mean to have a concurrent post or to have an additional [...]

    suzu-shii, suzu-mu, ryō Suzushii is an adjective that expresses a low temperature you feel comfortable. For example, on a hot summer day, when you go inside a building which is air-conditioned and feel comfortable, you can say, “suzushii.” The verb suzumu means to find such a comfortable place and enjoy the temperature. Yūsuzumi [...]