ka Japanese companies and government offices have sections called ka. They are often branches of departments. School courses and curriculums are called katei. Your daily routine can be called nikka. If you read every day, reading is your nikka. Kasuru is a verb meaning ‘to impose’ duties such as payment of taxes. The imposition of [...]

kaku The character (較) means ‘to compare’ or ‘roughly.’ The latter is less important in comparison with the former, because words in which this character means ‘roughly’ is rarely used. As a general native Japanese speaker, I don’t think I have seen such words. The only useful compound including today’s character is hikaku. Hikaku, which [...]

  aba-reru, aba-ku, bō, baku The verb abareru means ‘to behave violently.’ Bōryoku, bōkō, and rambō all mean violence. The verb abaku is used when something such as a secret is revealed or somebody’s crime is exposed.

u-reru, juku Both ureru and jukusu are verbs meaning ‘to ripen.’ Mijuku means immature. Sōjuku means precocious or premature. Jukugo is a compound, that is, a word consisting of two or more characters.

kagaya-ku, ki Kagayaku means shining or brilliant. Kagayaki is a noun meaning brightness or brilliance. Kagayaku sometimes modifies nouns. Kagayaku hoshi is a shining star. “Mi rai” (the future) can be modified by kagayaku or kagayakashii. Both “kagayaku mirai” and “kagayakashii mirai” mean a bright future.

yo-u, sui If somebody is drunken, you can use the word “yotta” (酔った) to describe them. “You”酔う is a verb that means either ‘to get drunk,’ ‘to be intoxicated,’ or ‘to get seasick.’ “Yotta” and “you” are variations of the same verb. If you are profoundly attracted to a particular talent or art, you can [...]

dō Dō 銅 is copper. Bronze, a mixture of copper and tin is seidō. A bronze medal is called dōmedaru. Medaru is written in katakana.

ryō The original meaning of this character is the nape of one’s neck. While the original meaning is obsolete, today’s character has two essential meanings: ‘a territory’ and ‘the essentials.’ A state’s territories are called its ryōdo. A consul is ryōji. A consulate is ryōjikan, where you might see a consul. Honryō means a feature [...]

kan Yakata 館 is a historical word that means a manor. It’s one of the readings of this character but is not included in the list of basic readings. I sometimes hear the word in Western historical dramas. You cannot find manors in Japan. Not that I’m telling that the character is not used in [...]