what is the difference between these Japanese words?

Sumi&kado= corner
Riyuu and wake= reason
Kabe and hei= wall

Thanks in advance!

MACKEYBOY said:

Sumi&kado= corner
Riyuu and wake= reason
Kabe and hei= wall

Thanks in advance!

Click to expand...

Kado is a corner such as you're used to thinking of it, as at the intersection of two streets or two walls. Sumi means more like "off to the side" or "along an edge". Imagine where a roadway meets the curb stone or where a floor meets a wall...that sort of "corner", which we would think of as an "edge".

The next two are very similar, with the former being a compound made of Chinese readings and the latter being a native Japanese word.

Kabe a wall. Hei is a set of walls that encloses a space...a fence, in other words. All hei have kabe, but not all kabe are part of a hei. Same as how all your aunts are women but not all women are your aunts.

Sumi is more like a corner inside (corner of inside of a room or a box for example) while kado is something outer, something protruding. For street corner, we use kado but never sumi.
Kabe is a wall inside a building, hei is a wall outside, a kind of fence.

Riyuu is the reason why, wake has much wider meaning, including sense, circumstances, how things should be/supposed to be, etc.
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edit: Oops, Mike san beat me.

Thank you both very much! That was very thorough and informative