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During
Japan's period of modernisation in the late 19th century,
the Japanese created many new words by combining kanji to
translate new concepts from Western culture. Some examples
are 哲学,
philosophy, 労働,
labour and 会社,
company. Some of these words were even reimported by the Chinese!
As well as new kanji compounds, the Japanese created new characters,
eg. the 「働」 of
働く,
to work, 辻,
crossroads, and 峠,
mountain pass. These are referred to as 国字,
ie. kanji created in Japan. |
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Playing
with kanji |
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The Japanese continue
to enjoy playing with kanji, creating their own original words.
Here are two imaginative creations, from our colleague
佐々木さん,
but be aware that they are not real words!
女怖 → 女 (woman) +
怖 (scary) = mother
茶乳 → 茶 (tea) +
乳 (milk) = milk tea |
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Find-a-compound |
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How many 2-kanji
compound words can you find in the chart below? Kanji compounds
may be created by combining with kanji on the left, right, above,
below or diagonally. (Answers below) |
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You
all know that the kanji for Japan is 日本,
meaning 'source of the sun' because it was located to the
east of 中国 (China,
'the country at the centre'), and the kanji 日 is
often used to mean 'Japan' or 'Japanese' in compound words,
eg. 日英辞典,
Japanese-English dictionary. But other countries' names too,
as well as being written in katakana, can be written in kanji.
The name for Australia, for example, was originally written
濠太剌利, as a phonetic
approximation ゴウタラリ,
and was later abbreviated to 豪州.
The Japanese-language newspaper in Australia is called
「日豪プレス」.
(The actual meaning of 豪
is 'splendid, formidable'!). In the case of other countries
too, the kanji is usually used for its phonetic value. |
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Here
are some examples: |
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| フランス |
⇒ |
仏 |
abbreviation
of 仏蘭西 |
| イギリス |
⇒ |
英 |
abbreviation
of 英国 (alternative
name for England) |
| ロシア |
⇒ |
露 |
abbreviation
of 露西亜 |
| ドイツ |
⇒ |
独 |
abbreviation
of 独逸 |
| インド |
⇒ |
印 |
abbreviation
of 印度 |
| アメリカ |
⇒ |
米 |
abbreviation
of 亜米利加 |
| カナダ |
⇒ |
加 |
abbreviation
of 加奈陀 |
| イタリア |
⇒ |
伊 |
abbreviation
of 伊太利亜 |
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Fill in
the boxes with the correct kanji for each country. |
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Note:
月日 This
is read 「つきひ」 but
in 'date of birth' it is read 「生年月日」.
女人 This
is read 「にょにん」 and
means 'woman', but there is no 「男人」.
分水 This
word refers to division of water, as in 'watershed',
and is often used in place names.
生長 This
word means 'growth' and is usually written
成長. |
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Answers:
漢字、漢文、漢学、文字、先学、先生、先日、日本、本日、親日、月日、文化、文学、学校、学生、学長、生長、本人、新本、校長、分校、水分、長男、長女、人生、女人、新人、新聞、分化、分水、男女 |
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