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面白い漢字「Interesting Kanji」

ax

後輩
27 May 2003
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I stumbled upon these two 漢字 today which I think is interesting and want to share with the forum.
怪我「kega」 injury.
this kanji literally means Blame Me.

肉布団「nikubuton」 fat
this kanji literally means flesh futon

ax
 
More...
有難う(ありがとう) = thank you, but literally is "Got difficulty"
家内(かない) = wife but literally is "inside the house) Well, I suppose traditionally, wife is literally inside the house all the time
海老(えび) = shrimp but literally is "old sea"
 
thanks for all the encouraging post on this threads....
I racked my brain again and came up with this :)
大丈夫 「だいじょぶ」 daijyoubu actually means great warrior in chinese
貴方 「あなた」 the kanji for anata means, rich peole or respected people
沢山 「たくさん」 the kanji for takusan literally mans valley and hill (mountain)

ax
 
ax said:
I stumbled upon these two 漢字 today which I think is interesting and want to share with the forum.
怪我「kega」 injury.
this kanji literally means Blame Me.
Well, the first one is clearly mysterious/strange or supernatural, so I'd be interested in the story of how it evolved into blame. Is that extrapolating from Chinese or Japanese ? :p
 
Elizabeth said:
Well, the first one is clearly mysterious/strange or supernatural, so I'd be interested in the story of how it evolved into blame. Is that extrapolating from Chinese or Japanese ? :p


I think I read about the story of that word in a book earlier. For a period, the Japanese wanted to use Kanji to express the different sounds of particular words. Remember how in the old days male used predominantly kanji and katakana while the rest used strictly hiragana. They did not specifically choose the kanjis for these words and only chose the ones which offered similar sounds.

Hence, you have these weird kanjis coming out... such as "kega", "gobusata" etc..
 
nhk9 said:
I think I read about the story of that word in a book earlier. For a period, the Japanese wanted to use Kanji to express the different sounds of particular words. Remember how in the old days male used predominantly kanji and katakana while the rest used strictly hiragana. They did not specifically choose the kanjis for these words and only chose the ones which offered similar sounds.

Hence, you have these weird kanjis coming out... such as "kega", "gobusata" etc..
It could have been a phonetic borrowing, certainly, depending on the Chinese meaning at the time. The shift to 'blame' after its appropriation, sometime later in Chinese, seems most likely.
 
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I got two interesting kanji to share. They are made in Japan for sure and as I was told they are 省略「syoryaku」.

the first one is pronounced as ikoi
it's made of a 工、白、and こころ
工白

「いこい」 rest, repose, relaxation
but original Kanji is 憩い
I am not very sure about it though, so somebody correct me if I am wrong.
The second character is made of three seven 七七七

七七
they cannot be written on our パソコン。
this 漢字 is pronounced as き, has a meaning of よろこぶ 「歡ぶ,慶ぶ,悦ぶ,歓ぶ,喜ぶ) be delighted, be glad, be overjoyed 」

アキス
 
I'm not sure what you're getting at ax... the original kanji is 憩い? according to me that is the kanji. any variation of this I would imagine is incorrect...

I'm not sure about this "three seven" き kanji either. It sounds more chinese to me. :p
 
アキスさん, I rearranged your material so I could see your thesis better; I kind of got confused myself just looking at the stuff!
ax said:
日本 省略字「syoryakuji」
1. 憩い 「いこい; G. kai, K. kei」 "rest, repose, relaxation " > 省略字 X1=工白心

2. 喜ぶ 「よろこ-ぶ; G. ko, K. ki」 "歡ぶ,慶ぶ,悦ぶ,歓ぶ, be delighted, be glad, be overjoyed" > 省略字 X2=七七七
It appears that you want someone to verify the two equations, right?

I looked up two mammoth dictionaries listing around 48,000 and 52,000 chars. and failed to find either of your forms. If indeed the equations hold valid, the forms you collected must be of recent coinage. I'd have to hand it to you, アキスさん. You're a real field linguist, and you deserve great respect for your pioneering work!

Variations of X1: 舌甘心, 自舌心, 舌自心(original), 息舌
Variations of X2: (please let me do this later...too tired.:))

It does make sense if the 吉 was reduced to 七, and the 卄口 to 七七, but we would still need some support to sustain the thesis, as usual. ;-)

I would like to present a riddle myself. Nothing too serious, but something to tease your brains....Using the kanji 木 「き, こ; G. moku, K. boku」 "tree, wood, theatrical wooden clapper," how many extra kanji can you make by way of reduplication?

1. 木木

2. 木
..木木

3.木木
....木

4. 木木
....木木

5. 木木
...木木木

6. 木木
..木木木木

7. 木木木
..木木木木

8. 木木木木
....木木木木

I could only verify 5 of these possibilities; are there any other? :)
 
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beluga said:
More...
家内(かない) = wife but literally is "inside the house) Well, I suppose traditionally, wife is literally inside the house all the time

A slightly chauvinistic but colloquial expression for a wife in Britain is "her indoors", as in "oh s**t, her indoors isn't gonna be happy with this". I dunno if it's the same around the world?
 
Ed-E said:
A slightly chauvinistic but colloquial expression for a wife in Britain is "her indoors", as in "oh s**t, her indoors isn't gonna be happy with this". I dunno if it's the same around the world?
Since you mention it, it is the case in Korean.

Mod. Kor. synonyms for wife
1. noun /ane/=same as adv. /ane/ inside
2. /jibsaram/ "house person"
3. /naija/ 內ナステ (old fashioned) "one who is inside"

Mod. Nivx (Gilyak) /kan/ "wife" possibly related to Chinese /jianei/ or Jap. /kanai/?

Well American English also has /hauskiipar/ "housekeeper" as a euphemism for wife, I think.
But your example from Britain is quite interesting. I never heard of it; thanks! :)
 
lexico said:
Well American English also has /hauskiipar/ "housekeeper" as a euphemism for wife, I think.
But your example from Britain is quite interesting. I never heard of it; thanks! 🙂

Now that ain't PC lex.
They are using the term homemaker now.

ax
 
lexico said:
Since you mention it, it is the case in Korean.

Mod. Kor. synonyms for wife
1. noun /ane/=same as adv. /ane/ inside
2. /jibsaram/ "house person"
3. /naija/ 內ナステ (old fashioned) "one who is inside"

Mod. Nivx (Gilyak) /kan/ "wife" possibly related to Chinese /jianei/ or Jap. /kanai/?

Well American English also has /hauskiipar/ "housekeeper" as a euphemism for wife, I think.
But your example from Britain is quite interesting. I never heard of it; thanks! 🙂

No problemo. I don't think it's used by young people these days, mostly middle-aged. In fact, I don't think it's used much at all in these politically-correct days. Whenever I see it written down I hear it in Cockney (London dialect) so maybe it's limited to that area, haha.
 
Ed-E said:
No problemo. I don't think it's used by young people these days, mostly middle-aged. In fact, I don't think it's used much at all in these politically-correct days. Whenever I see it written down I hear it in Cockney (London dialect) so maybe it's limited to that area, haha.
I should have said "formal" language in Korean. Thanks again, Eddie, and Ax, too, for reminding me. :D But coming to think of it, isn't home-maker also sexually oriented, I mean, not in that sense, but usually the officially unemployed senior female member of the family? I did hear of male home-makers though, so there may be a difference I guess. I probably sounded old fashioned and male chauvinistic, but I tend to forget about political correctness when I get excited about language. Actually such a consideration gets in the way. :)

Personally I somethimes use /puin/ 夫人 to be polite, but I've heard criticisms on this usage because you're basically referring to your wife as "the Lady" as in princess or duchess. So this is inappropriate by being boastful.

So I sometimes use /jibsaram/ to humble myself, but then I become an MCP by the cosmopolitan standard.

I rarely use or see /ane/, but they do appear in 20th c. literature and drama. I've never used /neja/, which my grandfather used it quite often. Coming to think of it, my father never used anything much at all. So my uneasiness may imply some kind of taboo. I really don't know how to call "wife" properly. :roflmao:

Actually, /HO-M KI-PA/ is one popular brand of mosquito killer in my country.
 
Edit: I found the triple seven 七七七 in my language support window as 㐂, but it doesn't show here as you can (not) see! The support doesn't seem to know the reading, either. Can you tell a little about where you found the 七七七 and the 工白心 kanjis? A little context may help my seaching... :)
 
We call it 'my old lady', in Chinese, 'Laopo', you should know that...

For the Kanji I found three seven as the sex parlor name in downtown yokohama and the work, white, heart kanji in a name for a medical clinic in Tanmachi.
I usually take notice of interesting name I saw.

In Kaoshiung city in Taiwan, I also saw a restaurant name with 3 big.

大大

アクス
 
ax said:
We call it 'my old lady', in Chinese, 'Laopo', you should know that...
I know I should, however I don't...Do young couples use the word, too? If not, what is the more acceptable word? The 婆 for a young wife doesn't seem fit, somehow. But you never know.
ax said:
For the Kanji I found three seven as the sex parlor name in downtown Yokohama
Was that the full name? Your info. makes me wonder if they were trying to make a word-play of /minana/ or /mishichi/ or /sannana/ or /sanshichi/, if any of those had any erotic connotation. Or could it be /ki-ki-ki-/ for having a good time? :giggle:
ax said:
and the work, white, heart kanji in a name for a medical clinic in Tanmachi.
A private clinic? How old was the sign board? Was the character made with neon tubes? Do you remember the full name of the clinic?
How would the full name be verbalized in Japanese?
ax said:
I usually take notice of interesting name I saw.
Way to go, アクス!
ax said:
In Kaoshiung city in Taiwan, I also saw a restaurant name with 3 big.

大大
康熙字典 does not list it, but it is listed in my 53,000 char. dictionary, so this must be recent coinage. And somehow the character looks familiar...just can't pinpoint it. Did you know during the 康熙 emperor's reign, collecting omissions in the 欽定 publication could mean death for challenging the mighty authority? I know of at least one lexicographer being beheaded and his book burned for writing a supplement to the dictionary. Poor guy, should have been born in our time, could have had some good threads of his own going!
大大大: /tai/ "meaning unknown"
I wonder if it is related to the PRC simplified 人人人 for 衆, hoping that many customers will flood in so the restaurant owner could get rich. :)
 
Think I should be careful with my head these days... or else... I don't wanna be dicapitated.

ax
 
ax said:
Think I should be careful with my head these days... or else... I don't wanna be dicapitated.
ax
Sorry if I made you apprehensive! 😲
But while we're at it, these three kanjis including the head graphic are quite interesting.



縣 (懸)

These all have something to do with decapitation and publicly displaying the heads of the dead! Horrific characters for sure!
 
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