Browsing the archives for the 8 strokes tag
kabana, sei, shō Both sei and kabana mean a family name or the title of a clan. Kabane is a not a basic reading. Hyakushō is used to address farmers but it is a disparaging expression. The classical meaning of hyakushō was ordinary people with various jobs because sei could mean the status of a [...]
sakazuki, hai This character implies a big plump wooden cup. We use it when we count the number of cups of drink. 1 pai (ippai) … a cup 2 hai (nihai) … 2 cups 3 bai (sambai) … 3 cups 4 hai (yonhai) … 4 cups 5 hai (gohai) … 5 cups 6 pai (roppai) [...]
ja Something using this character is evil. Jaakuna means evil and is a noun modifier. The aku of jaaku also means bad. Jadō is a bad way to do something. Jashin and janen mean an evil mind. Many people have a cold every year. This illness is called kaze, which is composed of ‘wind’ and [...]
ha-tasu, ha-teru, ha-te, ka At supermarkets, we see kudamono (fruits) written in hiragana. When we try to write it in kanji, we use today’s character and mono. But you cannot tell one of the readings of the character is kuda. This is a special reading and can be applied to this combination. Both seika and [...]
eda, shi The meaning of eda is a branch. Boughs, twigs and sprigs are all called eda. The nuances of these words are minor details you don’t have to care when you want to memorize the word “eda.” We call such minor details edaha or shiyō. The characters used for both words are the same. [...]
no-beru, jutsu The verb noberu means to talk about something serious in a formal occasion. When you write formal sentences, kijutsu suru is a better choice than noberu, which is verbal. Kijutsu means description or writing something formally. While an English sentence consists of a subject and a verb, basic Japanese sentence has a subject [...]
tato-eru, rei Use the phrase “tatoeba” before giving examples. It is equivalent to “for example.” Rei means an example. This character is composed of three parts. Write the sweeping stroke. Write the vertical stroke. Begin the middle part. Write the horizontal stroke. Write the sweeping stroke. Write the hook. Write the dot between the [...]
kata-i, kata-masu, kata-meru, ko The adjective katai means hard. A solid substance is called kotai. Any substance can be hard. Katasa, namely hardness, sometimes expresses inflexibility. Atama ga katai or katai may be criticism against somebody who cannot think or behave flexibly. The verb katamaru means to become solid. If you say you become this state, you [...]
mane-ku, shō Have you seen a figure of a sitting cat raising the right forepaw as if it scratches the ear? The figure is a lucky charm called manekineko or a beckoning cat. The gesture indicates that the cat is inviting happiness. Maneki comes from the verb maneku, which means to invite. The lucky charm sometimes [...]
ō We call Europe yōroppa and write it in katakana. There is a kanji version. Japan once closed the country to outsiders except the Chinese and the Dutch from 1639 to 1853. Before closing the country, it had visitors from Portugal. The word yōroppa came from Portuguese. Each syllable was replaced with kanji according to [...]