to-u, to-i, mon Should the title of the post be “A Question,” “Questions” or “To Question”? That was the question. “Questions” may be the most suitable answer for today’s blog post. Many kanji characters like this one become verbs and nouns, combined with other kanji or hiragana. Let me answer two questions today. What is [...]

hai-ru, i-reru, i-ru, nyū, ju A new school year will begin soon. In Japan, students enter a school in April. Admission to a school is called nyūgaku. By adding the suffix –suru, it becomes the verb nyūgakusuru, meaning to enter a school. Nyūgakushiki is an entrance ceremony. Shiki means a ceremony. Inputting data into a [...]

mamo-ru, mori, syu, su The verb mamoru is used in two ways. First, it means to guard, to protect, or to defend something from danger, harm, abuse, or attack. In this sense, we say, “… (ex. kōgeki = attack) kara mamoru.” The particle kara means from. Second, it means to keep something such as the [...]

hiru, chū Daylight is getting longer in this half of the year. We say, “hiru ga nagaku nattekita.” The particle ga indicates that the word placed before it is the subject. “Nagaku nattekita” means “to be getting longer.” Daylight would be the most suitable word for this character. Like other characters, however, there are some [...]

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 [...]

ryō We always use this character with other characters. In other words, hearing “ryō,” we can’t get the meaning of the word. The character is composed of rice and a measure. This combination makes us understand the meaning of the character. Many words have this character. We can divide them into three groups: measure, money, [...]

hidari, sa Hidari is the left, that is, the opposite direction of migi. The opposite of migikiki is hidarikiki meaning left-handed. Yesterday, I mentioned “uyoku” and “uha.” Symmetrical to these words are “sayoku,” and “saha.” Both mean the left wing or the leftists. A unique expression is hidari uchiwa, which means being rich and having [...]

moku, moku-suru, boku Eyes are me. The “me” is pronounced like “me” in Mexico. This character has two implications primarily: “look” and “item.” Look The almighty suffix –suru and its passive –sareru change many nouns into verbs. The verb “moku-suru” means not only “to look at” but also “to admit.” Its passive tense is “moku-sareru,” [...]

fuku, puku This is something to put on. Fuku and ifuku are clothing. You can express some kinds of clothes using this character. Uniforms are seifuku, of which the sei means restrained or controlled. School uniforms are gakuseifuku. Gakusei means students. Private clothes are shifuku, of which the shi means private. Children’s clothes are kodomofuku, [...]