jiku An axis is called jiku軸.　A pivot is shujiku. Core currencies are called “kijiku tsū ka.”

ta-tsu, saba-ku, sai The character means either ‘to cut out clothes’ or ‘to judge.’ The lower left part of the character means clothes. The rest means ‘stopping a disaster’ as it depicts a halberd and a dam. The verb tatsu means ‘to cut out clothes.’ The verb sabaku means ‘to judge.’ Saiban is a trial [...]

kata-i, ken The adjective katai means firm, stiff and hard. It is hard to tell the difference among three characters whose readings are “katai”: 堅い, 硬い and 固い. Other readings of each character are different and distinguishable. Kenko, meaning solid and strong, contains two of the above characters. Chūken is a middle-ranking company or a [...]

ko-eru, ko-su, chō Today’s character 超 means ‘super-’ or ‘exceeding.’ Koeru, kosu, chōka-suru are verbs meaning ‘to exceed.’ “Chō-” is sometimes used like the prefix ‘super-’. For example, “chō kō soku” means superhigh speed. You can add it before many nouns and adjectives. Chōkawaii, for example, means extremely kawaii.

ka-eru, ka-waru, tai The verb kaeru means to change or to replace. The verb torikaeru means ‘to exchange,’ ‘to shift,’ or ‘to replace.’ Exchanging money is called ryōgae. Foreign exchange is “gai koku kawase.” Kawase, which means money order, consists of two characters: tame and today’s character.

sa-geru, tei The verb sageru means ‘to carry something in your hand.’ When you submit something to somebody, the action is called teishutsu. The presentation or showing of ID is teiji.

ita-i, ita-mu, ita-meru, tsū Itami is pain or an ache. Itai means painful. We experience various levels of pains. Suffering is kutsū. A sharp pain is gekitsū. Sometimes we have a pain in body parts.　A headache is called zutsū.　A stomachache is itsū or fukutsū.

kata-i, kō Katai is an adjective meaning stiff, hard, and inflexible. You can use the word if you want to describe an object as hard. The opposite of katai is yawarakai. Kōsui is hard water.

yosoo-u, sō, shō Yosoou is a verb meaning ‘to dress up.’ Fukusō means clothing or dress. Ishō is a costume. Sōchaku-suru is a verb meaning ‘to equip a thing with tools or equipment.’