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"AB|AC" words

lanthas

 
27 Apr 2014
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As I read more texts and learn new vocabulary, I've been discovering a number of words with a useful pattern:
  • Consists of two different kanji that have the same left hand radical.
  • One kanji, or even both ones, are exclusively used in this word.
  • There are seemingly no other two-kanji words that use this left hand radical twice.
  • The left hand radical often lends itself well to making a mnemonic at the word level (rather than the kanji level).
Some examples:
挨拶 (greeting - two people waving at each other)
喧嘩 (quarrel - two mouths shouting at each other)
嫉妬 (envy - ...)
襤褸 (tatters)

Considering the above characteristics, it becomes much easier to recognize and remember these words while reading: you can take a shortcut by only looking at the simple left radicals, without (much) danger of mixing up with a different word.

So I wonder, is this an "officially" recognized pattern and does it have a name? Or is it just a nonsensical/dangerous reading optimization :D? Finally, what are some other words that follow it?

よろしくお願いします。
 
In 漢検 they have a section about 熟語の構成 - the way in which compounds are formed from individual kanji.

One major category is
同じような意味の漢字を重ねた熟語
(compounds formed from kanji with the same/similar meanings)
Yours all seem to me to fall into this pattern. (lots of examples for all the categories: 勉強のねっこ 漢字 熟語の構成 )

Since "meaning component at left" is a common pattern for kanji, it's not that surprising that you'd find two with the same left-hand component/radical in these sorts of compounds.

You can find a list of more compounds with "same radical" here:
熟語集め1——部首が同じもの - yh氏の日記
 
You did notice something useful - the fact that words like 挨拶 contain kanji which pretty much only have a single use and are always or nearly always seen together (so should be learnt as a unit). There's nothing wrong, therefore, with remembering that as a compound it has 手偏 twice over, and that might jog your memory when you see the word in context, or stop you mixing up 挨 and 埃.
 
You did notice something useful - the fact that words like 挨拶 contain kanji which pretty much only have a single use and are always or nearly always seen together
I knew that from the beginning, in fact the site where I learned my base kanji emphasized this. They would show e.g. 犠 and immediately add that it is in practice only used in 犠牲(者). I was trying to make things easier for myself by ignoring the right half of the kanji in my first post; I easily forget kanji unless I think up an elaborate mnemonic for them, but if they are only used in a single word that's not even used that often (like 襤褸) this seems like a waste of time if an apparent shortcut is available. But clearly this was going too far.
 
咀嚼
I just came across this word for the first time today, and I immediately thought of this thread. Now I know a new word and have a memory to associate it with, so lanthas-san I thank you for this thread and for leading me to a new bit of vocabulary. (And another fancy kanji to learn and perhaps never use again!)

咀嚼(そしゃく)とは、摂取した食物で咬み、粉砕すること。
咀嚼 - Wikipedia

(Note this word is also in the list that nekojita-san linked to.)
 
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