Here we are at our fifth lesson on kanji. Do not hesitate to review previous lessons in case there are still things that you did not understand.
Before starting this new lesson, a little reminder on the basic rules of kanji.
1. A single kanji can be read in purely Japanese reading.
2. Two or more kanji can be read in Sino-Japanese reading.
We have seen several examples of words derived from kanji combinations and adhering to these two basic rules. Now, we will see special cases because the basic rules that we saw previously will not always apply.
First of all, I would like to clarify a point which must be very clear to everyone. All these special cases that we will see are not exceptions. There are no exceptions in Japanese. All these particular cases all follow a logic and it is very important to understand how each of them works, how they arose in the language. They didn’t just happen by chance and it’s by understanding the why and how that you will master kanji much better.
There is a total of thirteen special cases. Each of these cases will be explained and illustrated by one or more examples.
From time to time, we will have kanji combined but with a purely Japanese reading. To illustrate this case, take a look at the example below :
名前
Let’s take a closer look at the purely Japanese and Sino-Japanese pronunciations of these two kanji.
名 .
な .
メイ → name
前 .
まえ .
ゼン → in front of / before
Well, you guessed it, the first name go before the last name :
名前 → first name
If we followed the basic rule of kanji, we would like to pronounce this word メイゼン but it will not be the case. We will pronounce this word なまえ.
Why ? Because the Japanese did not wait for the kanji to combine words. To use the example of 名前 . なまえ, the Japanese – I remind you that they had an exclusively oral language at the time – had the word « na » → Name and the word « mae » → In front of / Before. So, they combined the two pronunciations to create the word なまえ. After all, if « na » means « the name » and « mae » means « in front of / before », then « namae » means « before the name » therefore « the first name ».
So, when the Japanese recovered the Chinese ideograms, they transposed all the words they already had in their language on these ideograms. So, on this kanji 名, they transposed the word な which means « the name », and on this kanji 前, they transposed the word まえ. So :
名前 .
なまえ → first name
Now that this first scenario has been explained, here are a few more examples with kanji seen previously.
For example, if we mean « black belt », we will first use the « black » kanji which we will simply combine with the kanji of « belt ».
黒 .
くろ .
コク → black
帯 .
おび .
タイ → belt
To create the word « black belt », we are going to combine the purely Japanese pronunciations of these two kanji because, once again, the words « black » and « belt » already existed before the arrival of the kanji. So, this gives us :
黒帯 .
くろおび → black belt
If we mean « water bird, palmiped », we will first use the kanji of « water » which we will simply combine with the kanji of « bird ».
水 .
みず .
スイ → water
鳥 .
とり .
チョウ → bird
To create the word « water bird, palmiped », we are going to combine the purely Japanese pronunciations of these two kanji.
水鳥 .
みずとり → water bird, palmiped
To create the word « dune », we will first use the kanji of « sand » that we will simply combine with the kanji of « mountain ».
砂 .
すな .
サ → sand
山 .
やま .
ザン → mountain
To create the word « dune », we are going to combine the purely Japanese pronunciations of these two kanji.
砂山 .
すなやま → dune
If we mean « potion ; liquid medicine », we will first use the kanji of « water » that we will simply combine with the kanji of « medecine ».
水 .
みず .
スイ → water
薬 .
くすり .
ヤク → medicine
To create the word « potion ; liquid medicine », we are going to combine the purely Japanese pronunciations of these two kanji.
水薬 .
みずぐすり → potion ; liquid medicine
Note that the く of くすり becomes ぐ.
If we mean « mountain cherry », we will first use the kanji of « mountain » which we will simply combine with the kanji of « cherry ».
山 .
やま .
サン → mountain
桜 .
さくら .
シ → cherry
To create the word « mountain cherry », we are going to combine the purely Japanese pronunciations of these two kanji.
山桜 .
やまざくら → mountain cherry
Note that the さ of さくら becomes ざ.
We can also find ourselves facing certain particular cases with a pronunciation which goes beyond the rules established previously. I will give you an example so that you understand better.
If we mean « God of Death », we will first use the kanji of « Death » which we will simply combine with the kanji of « god, deity ».
死 .
しぬ .
シ → Death
神 .
かみ .
シン → god, deity
To create the word « God of Death », we are going to combine the purely Japanese pronunciations of these two kanji. What are we going to do here ? Shall we combine purely Japanese pronunciations ? Or the Sino-Japanese pronunciations ? Well, watch the word « God of Death » below.
死神 .
しにがみ → God of Death
We have the し, purely Japanese pronunciation of the first kanji. We also have the か de かみ which becomes が. And then the に in しにがみ, where does this にcome from ? It actually comes from しぬ, which is a verb. It is the verb « to die ». And the ぬ of しぬ becomes に in the word 死神 . しにがみ.
It’s very rare but it does happen. Here’s an unusual little thing, but that’s how the word was built. So, remember by heart.
From time to time, we will have kanji combined and which will be read in purely Japanese since we will have a prefix. The principle is the same as the previous case with a very small difference. Here is an example to illustrate this case.
小鳥 → little bird / chick
Let’s take a closer look at the purely Japanese and Sino-Japanese pronunciations of these two kanji.
小 .
ちい (さい) / こ .
ショウ → little
鳥 .
とり .
チョウ → bird
Thus, we will not pronounce this word ショウチョウ but ことり. Because the kanji 小 is prefixed so it will be pronounced こ. There are other kanji that can be used as a prefix in many words, which we will see little by little, especially in vocabulary lists. Again, the word 小鳥. ことり already existed before the arrival of kanji, which explains the purely Japanese pronunciation.
Now that this second case has been explained, here are some additional examples with kanji seen previously.
For example, if we mean « small mountain, hill, mound », we will first use the kanji of « small » which we will simply combine with the kanji of « mountain ».
小 .
ちい (さい) / こ .
ショウ → little
山 .
やま .
サン → mountain
To create the word « small mountain, hill, mound », we are going to combine the purely Japanese pronunciations of these two kanji knowing that the kanji 小 is placed as a suffix. So, this gives us :
小山 . こやま → small mountain, hill, mound
If we mean « lamb », we will first use the kanji of « little » which we will simply combine with the kanji of « sheep ».
小 .
ちい (さい) / こ .
ショウ → little
羊 .
ひつじ .
ヨウ → sheep
To create the word « lamb », we are going to combine the purely Japanese pronunciations of these two kanji knowing that the kanji 小 is placed in suffix. So, this gives us :
小羊 .
こひつじ → lamb
If we mean « kitten », we will first use the kanji of « little » which we will simply combine with the kanji of « cat ».
小 .
ちい (さい) / こ .
ショウ → little
猫 .
ねこ .
ビョウ, ボウ, ミョウ → cat
To create the word « kitten », we will combine the purely Japanese pronunciations of these two kanji knowing that the kanji 小 is placed as a suffix. So, this gives us :
小猫 .
こねこ → kitten
If we mean « baby elephant », we will first use the kanji of « little » which we will simply combine with the kanji of « elephant ».
小 .
ちい (さい) / こ .
ショウ → little
象 .
かたどる .
ショウ, ゾウ → elephant
To create the word « baby elephant », we are going to combine the purely Japanese pronunciations of these two kanji knowing that the kanji 小 is placed in suffix. So, this gives us :
小象 .
こぞう → baby elephant
If we mean « puppy », we will first use the kanji of « little » which we will simply combine with the kanji of « dog ».
小 .
ちい (さい) / こ .
ショウ → little
犬 .
いぬ .
ケン → dog
To create the word « puppy », we are going to combine the purely Japanese pronunciations of these two kanji knowing that the kanji 小 is placed as a suffix. So, that gives us :
小犬 .
こいぬ → puppy
If we mean « fawn », we will first use the kanji of « small » which we will combine with the kanji of « deer, doe ».
小 .
ちい (さい) / こ .
ショウ → little
鹿 .
しか / か .
ロク → deer, doe
To create the word « fawn », we are going to combine the purely Japanese pronunciations of these two kanji knowing that the kanji 小 is placed as a suffix. So, that gives us :
小鹿 .
こじか → fawn
Note that the し of しか becomes じ.
If we mean « pooh », we will first use the kanji of « little » which we will combine with the kanji of « bear ».
小 .
ちい (さい) / こ .
ショウ → little
熊 .
くま.
ユウ → bear
To create the word « pooh », we will combine the purely Japanese pronunciations of these two kanji knowing that the kanji 小 is placed as a suffix. So, this gives us :
小鹿 .
こぐま → pooh
Note that the く of くま becomes ぐ.
If we mean « small island », we will first use the kanji of « little » which we will combine with the kanji of « island ».
小 .
ちい (さい) / こ .
ショウ → little
島 .
しま.
トウ → island
To create the word « small island », we will combine the purely Japanese pronunciations of these two kanji knowing that the kanji 小 is placed as a suffix. So, this gives us :
小島 .
こじま → small island
Note that the し of しま becomes じ.
From time to time, we’ll have kanji alone but with a reading that will seem quite unusual as if there were two purely Japanese readings in one kanji. Here is an example to illustrate this case.
庭 .
にわテイ → garden
鳥 .
とりチョウ → bird
Observe the purely Japanese pronunciations of these two kanji. The Japanese, long before the arrival of the kanji, decided to create the word にわとり which literally means « a garden bird » and therefore « a hen ».
When the kanji arrived, rather than combining the kanji 庭 and 鳥, the Japanese adopted the Chinese ideogram of « hen », because there already existed in Chinese an ideogram to mean « hen ». Here it is : 鶏. The Japanese therefore decided to apply the pronunciation にわとり to this kanji, 鶏. にわとり is therefore the only writing in kanji to say « hen ». The writing 庭鳥 is wrong !
From time to time, we will have kanji alone but with a Sino-Japanese reading. So, I know the rule of thumb is that a single kanji can only be read in pure Japanese reading... and yet that will not always be the case. This is explained by the fact that, when the Japanese recovered the Chinese ideograms, they did not have a word in their own language for each of these kanji that they recovered.
For example, the word « book ». At the time when the Japanese still only had a spoken language, and therefore which was transmitted exclusively orally, you can imagine that they had no writing, and therefore no books, therefore, well obviously they had no word to say « book ». But then how did the Japanese create the word « book » ? They simply took over the Sino-Japanese pronunciation of kanji « book » when they got the kanji.
Thus, the kanji of book, 本, is pronounced ホン.
This case is quite frequent. Also note that Sino-Japanese pronunciations of kanji that fall under this case will tend to be used as Sino-Japanese readings. We’ll see more examples of words including this kanji much later in the coming courses.
Also note that this same kanji, in purely Japanese pronunciation this time, is pronounced もと, which means « the origin ».
本 .
もとホン → origin / book
At times, we are going to mix purely Japanese and Sino-Japanese readings. It happens quite rarely but in words that are still quite common in general. See the example below right away.
風呂場 → the bathroom
How am I going to pronounce this word ? To find out, let’s look at the purely Japanese and Sino-Japanese pronunciations of the three kanji that make up this word.
風 .
かぜ .
フウ, フ → the wind
呂 .
せぼね .
ロ → the column
場 .
ば .
ジョウ → the place
To create the word « bathroom », we are going to combine the Sino-Japanese pronunciation of the first kanji with the Sino-Japanese pronunciation of the second kanji with the purely Japanese pronunciation of the third kanji. Do you always follow me ? Let’s take a look below.
風呂場 .
フロば → the bathroom
Why such an arrangement ? Simply because the Japanese did not always have what it takes of purely Japanese and Sino-Japanese pronunciation. So, for some words, they combined the two a bit.
Below, I give you another example.
本棚 → the library (the furniture)
How am I going to pronounce this word ? To find out, let’s look at the purely Japanese and Sino-Japanese pronunciations of the two kanji that make up this word.
本 .
もと.
ホン → the origin / the book
棚 .
たな.
ホウ → the shelf
To create the word « the library », we are going to combine the Sino-Japanese pronunciation of the first kanji with the purely Japanese pronunciation of the second kanji. That gives us.
本棚 .
ホンだな → the library (the furniture)
Note that the た of たな becomes だ.
Very often, we will use a foreign word as a Sino-Japanese term. This case is very often used for names of nationality or names of languages for example. Below is an example :
フランス → France
The word « France » is written in katakana because it is a foreign word. No worries until then. Now if we mean « a french », we will combine the name of the country with the kanji of « person » avec sa pronunciation Sino-Japanese. with its Sino-Japanese pronunciation. As a reminder, below the kanji of « person ».
ひと .
ジン → person
If we combine the word フランス with the kanji of 人 in Sino-Japanese pronunciation, this gives us :
フランス人 .
フランスジン → a French
Below are other examples :
スペイン人 .
スペインジン → a Spanish
ポルトガル人 .
ポルトガルジン → a Portuguese
タイ人 .
タイジン → a Thai
ドイツ人 .
ドイツジン → a German
イタリア人 .
イタリアジン → an Italian
アメリカ人 .
アメリカジン → an American
オーストラリア人 .
オーストラリアジン → an Australian
All the country names used for the above examples are katakanized via their English translation as is almost always the case.
Now if we mean « a Japanese », we will use the word 日本 with its Sino-Japanese pronunciation ニホン and the kanji of 人 also with its Sino-Japanese pronunciation ジン. This gives us :
日本人 .
ニホンジン → a Japanese
Remember – if I told you before – that the Chinese called the country of Japan ニホン. The Japanese took up this term at the same time as the kanji. By pasting the Sino-Japanese pronunciation of 人. ジン, that gives us « a Japanese ». This word can be written in kanji but remains basically a foreign word.
Now if we want to say « the French language / French », « the Italian language / Italian »… Well, we’re going to do the same thing as before using this time the kanji from the kanji of 語.
語 .
ご .
ギョ → the language
Now the examples :
フランス語 .
フランスご → the French language / French
スペイン語 .
スペインご → Castilian / Spanish
ポルトガル語 .
ポルトガルご → Portuguese language / Portuguese
タイ語 .
タイご → Thai
ドイツ語 .
ドイツご → German
イタリア語 .
イタリアご → Italian language / Italian
And since we are dealing with this special case, do you remember the term « romaji » ? The principle is exactly the same, here is how it is written :
ローマ字 .
ローマじ → latin character, rōmaji
We’ll see much later when we talk about grammar, especially verbs and adjectives, that foreign words - mainly English - will be used in exactly the same way as Sino-Japanese terms. Just keep it in the back of your mind, it will come in handy when the time comes.
At times, kanji are combined with repetitions. This means that we will sometimes put the same kanji twice side by side.
For example, if we take the kanji 時 in purely Japanese reading, this gives us :
時 .
とき → the time
We combine it with the same kanji and this combination will result in « from time to time ».
時時 .
ときどき → from time to time
Note that the と becomes ど.
But, in writing, rather than writing the same kanji twice in a row, we are going to use the repetition symbol which is used to indicate that the kanji 時 is repeated.
時々 .
ときどき → from time to time
We can also have two kanji that repeat themselves in Sino-Japanese reading. For example :
少 .
ショウ → a little
If we repeat this same kanji, it gives us :
少々 .
ショウショウ → a tiny bit
We can have repeating kanji which, depending on the case, can be read in purely Japanese or Sino-Japanese reading.
Sometimes, different kanji have the same purely Japanese reading and the same meaning... to different degrees. To give you an example, we will take the word « blue ». Long before the kanji arrived, the word « blue » was pronounced « ao ». Today, we have four kanji that are pronounced « ao », which actually means « blue », but according to the writing of the kanji, will express different shades of blue. Of course, you will understand that these nuances, out of context, are therefore not perceptible orally.
Let’s see these kanji :
青 . あお → blue, green
蒼 . あお → dark blue
碧 . あお → greenish blue
藍 . あお → indigo blue
As you can see, these kanji are pronounced in exactly the same way but are written differently and have a slightly different meaning as said above.
To understand better, you should know that Japan is one of the many countries like China and India that did not differentiate blue from green at the start of their history. Thus, for the Japanese, the sky and the vegetation both had the same color and were therefore pronounced あお.
For most of you, this may seem strange, but you have to keep in mind that colors are linked to the representation of the world of each culture. And we are all different and therefore perceive the world differently.
At times, we have kanji combined but with a purely Japanese reading. For you to understand better, an example :
青
We have the kanji of 大 (big, tall) and the kanji of 人(person). The two combined together gives us the word « adult ».
大人 → adult
But how are we going to pronounce this word ? Let’s observe the respective purely Japanese and Sino-Japanese readings at these two kanji :
大 .
おお .
ダイ → tall
人 .
ひと .
ジン → person
Logically, we could perhaps pronounce the word « adult » either by using the purely Japanese pronunciation of each of the two kanji, or their Sino-Japanese pronunciations. And yet this will not be the case. So are we going to mix a Sino-Japanese pronunciation with a purely Japanese pronunciation ? No more !
Again, the Japanese, long before the arrival of the kanji, already had a word for « adult » and this word is おとな. When they got the kanji, they realized that there was no kanji for « adult », and to solve this glitch, they associated the idea of « tall » and « person », then applied their purely Japanese pronunciation to this ready-made combination. So :
大人 .
おとな → adult
For those of you who want to go much further, be aware that this particular case we just talked about has a name in Japanese. It is called 熟字訓 . ジュクジクン.
It consists of associating a purely Japanese reading with a fixed combination of several kanji rather than a single kanji, and whose pronunciation is not deductible from each kanji – that is to say, it does not correspond either to the purely Japanese pronunciation, nor the Sino-Japanese pronunciation of each kanji –.
Here is a small list of words that fit into this particular case (in addition to the one we just saw) :
大人 .
おとな → adult
昨日 .
きのう → yesterday
明日 .
あした → tomorrow
小豆 .
あずき → red bean
紅葉 .
もみじ → maple
The tenth particular case concerns what is called 当て字 . あてじ. It is a word made up of several kanji with a purely phonetic Japanese reading. That is to say, the Japanese have created words based exclusively on the phonetics of the kanji without paying very strict attention to the individual meaning of the combined kanji. The most relevant example – especially that it is very often used – is the verb « to be able to do ». So, yes ! « To be able to do » is a verb and this is how it is written in Japanese.
出来る .
できる → to be able to do
The kanji 出 corresponds to the verb でる which means « to go out ». And the kanji 来 corresponds to the verb くる which means « to come ». However, in some form, we will see later can be pronounced き.
As you can see, the Japanese took phonetics specific to each kanji to create a word – here, more precisely a verb – which has absolutely nothing to do with the individual meaning of the combined kanji.
You should know that this practice is less and less common. The verb 出来る . できる is more and more often written in hiragana to avoid any confusion.
To give you another example of 当て字 . あてじ fairly recent, although also very little used, we have the word 倶楽部 . くらぶ which simply means « club ». Once again, the kanji were chosen exclusively for their phonetics and the specific meaning of each of them has nothing to do with the word « club ». In 99% of cases, this word, foreign to the base and coming from English, will be written in katakana like this : クラブ.
There are many others 当て字 . あてじ which I quote to you below in addition to those that we have just seen.
出来る .
できる → to be able to
倶楽部 .
くらぶ → club
沢山 .
たくさん → a lot (of)
多分 .
たぶん → maybe, probably
The last two are adverbs that we will study much later.
Sometimes we will have two scriptures for the same word. Below, an example with the word « egg » in Japanese :
卵 .
たまご → egg
Now let us ask ourselves the question of how the word « egg » was created in Japanese. Before the arrival of the kanji, the Japanese therefore already had a language spoken with vocabulary, and they had already created the word « egg » by associating the idea of « sphere » and « child ». « Sphere » is said たま and « child » is said こ, so that gives us たまご. When the Japanese recovered the Chinese ideograms, they therefore recovered the ideogram of « egg » on the one hand, and the ideograms of « sphere » and « child » on the other. So we have two possible scripts to express the same thing :
卵 .
たまご → egg
玉子 .
たまご → egg
Do you remember the story of the « garden » and the « hen » ? We had a kanji to say « hen », 鶏, and we had a combination of kanji, 庭鳥, considered to be false because... the Japanese decided so.
Well, in the case of the egg, both scriptures are possible... because they decided so. However, it seems that kanji 卵 is the most common way to say « egg ».
Finally, the penultimate particular case, we’re almost there. This is probably the rarest case of all and I have only found two examples to illustrate it.
Some combinations of kanji, very rare, have a purely Japanese pronunciation meaning one thing and a Sino-Japanese pronunciation meaning something completely different. As an example, let’s first look at the two kanji below :
海 .
うみ .
カイ → sea
牛 .
うし .
ギュウ → cow
If we combine them, here is what we get :
海牛 .
うみうし .
カイギュウ
The purely Japanese pronunciation うみうし means « sea slug » and the Sino-Japanese pronunciation カイギュウ means « manatee ». As you can see, these are two things that have absolutely nothing to do with it and yet we will use the same writing in kanji.
The second example is as follows :
紅 .
くれない / べに / あかい / もみ .
コウ → bright red, crimson
葉 .
は .
ショウ / ヨウ → leaf
If we combine them, here is what we get :
紅葉 .
もみじ .
コウヨウ
The purely Japanese pronunciation もみじ means « maple » and the Sino-Japanese pronunciation コウヨウ means « red/yellow leaves, autumn leaves ». Again, these are two things completely different from each other and yet we will use the same writing in kanji.
Finally, the last particular case. The easiest.
The word « hiragana » is written less and less in kanji and more and more in hiragana, and the word « katakana » is written less and less in kanji and more and more in katakana.
平仮名 → ひらがな
片仮名 → カタカナ
Now I will tell you about kokuji. This is how it is spelled: 国字 . コクジ. Els kokuji són ideogrames d’origen japonès.
As a reminder, we saw it a little earlier in this season, the kanji are of Chinese origin. Logically, a kanji ALWAYS has at least one sino-Japanese pronunciation. A kanji of Chinese origin therefore NEVER ONLY has purely Japanese pronunciations.
And then you have the kokuji. Kokuji are kanji created and then distributed in Japan, as opposed to most kanji which have their origins in texts from China. Kokuji literally means « national character ». Kokuji began to be created in the 8th century. Production was active until the end of the 19th century and many characters were created during the Meiji era to transcribe new scientific concepts. Most do not have sino-Japanese pronunciation. These local characters are mainly formed by composing character elements, but forming a combination that does not exist in Chinese. The production of local characters has spread to all countries using the Chinese writing system. These local characters are less common in Korea than in Japan, for example. Moreover, the Chinese have borrowed most of the kokuji invented by the Japanese.
Most Japanese teachers never mention kokuji to their students and there are several reasons for this. The first is that kokuji are rare in the Japanese language, there are just over a hundred and only a little over a dozen are commonly used. The others are used to designate very specific animals or rather complex scientific concepts. The second is that most of these ideograms also have a Sino-Japanese pronunciation; probably due to the Chinese who borrowed the kokuji and created their own pronunciations for these new characters, pronunciations subsequently borrowed and readjusted by the Japanese themselves for these same characters that they themselves had created; many kokuji are easily confused with kanji. Ah, the joys of the History of languages!
Many people refer to kokuji as kanji of Japanese origin, but other people will tell you that this is incorrect and that it is more correct to speak of ideograms of Japanese origin. Etymologically, kokuji means « national character », and since these ideograms were created in Japan, they are therefore of Japanese origin... even though they were created from Chinese characters... but by Japanese people! You have a headache? It does not matter. You now understand why I chose to talk about kokuji apart from the rest of the course.
Now, as an example, here are five kokuji that you are most likely to encounter. All have no Sino-Japanese pronunciation, only at least one purely Japanese pronunciation:
笹 .
ささ → dwarf bamboo
畑 .
はたけ → field
凧 .
たこ → kite
匂 .
にお → odor
榊 .
さかき → Shinto sacred tree
If you pay attention to the last example (榊), you will notice that the kanji is composed of the combination of 木 (tree) and 神 (divine, spiritual), literally meaning « transcendent tree / divine tree ». By the way, we already have the word 神木 . シンボク. This one is much more used than 榊 . さかき.
I have now finished telling you about kokuji. Know that from now on, I will no longer use this word. All the ideograms that I will give you to learn will be designated as kanji.
So much for this course. It was still particularly long, but you know now everything about the particular cases of kanji. You no longer have any reason to be surprised if you come across words, combinations that seem a little odd to you. And as usual, do not hesitate to read again the course from time to time to refresh your memory.
There is a very last particular case that we will see later, that of Japanese proper names, to which I devoted a whole course apart.
But first, the next course that awaits you covers vocabulary highlighting some specific cases that you have just studied.
Introduction