Closeness, Intimacy, or the Middle Part of a Thing

Closeness, Intimacy, or the Middle Part of a Thing

naka, chū

As you can see in the title, this character has a few meanings. The related words can be divided into two groups.

Closeness or Intimacy

Naka is either good (ii/yoi) or bad (warui) when it means a relationship. Nakayoshi means a friendship in a bit childish way. Naka also means intimacy especially when it’s rumored. After two people have had a quarrel and haven’t talked with each other, they might sometimes become friends with each other again. This process is called nakanaori, or a fixed relationship.

The Middle Part of a Thing

The middle of autumn is chūshū. “Chūshū no mei getsu” is a full moon you can see in the middle of autumn. Chūkai is a brokerage. Brokers are called chūkaigyōsha or nakagainin.

Nakai is a woman who works at a Japanese-style hotel called ryokan and serves food and other stuff.

Nakōdo meaning a matchmaker is the combination of today’s character and hito.

If you want to see these words written in Japanese, visit >>> here.

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1. Draw the sweeping stroke from the top.
2. Draw the vertical stroke touching the previous stroke.
3. Draw the left side of the rectangle
4. Draw the upper and right sides of the rectangle.
5. Draw the lower side of the rectangle.
6. Draw the vertical stroke.

Dangerous

Dangerous

abu-nai, aya-ui, aya-bumu, ki

Have you ever seen tank lorries in Japan? Lorries often carry liquefied petroleum gas or other inflammable materials. So they have a sign showing this character meaning dangerous. We have adjectives, verbs, adverbs and compounds with this character.

Adjectives

Abunai means dangerous. So does ayaui but abunai is more common. If you are in a dangerous situation and manage to survive, you can say, “abunakatta,” meaning that it was dangerous or “I survived.”

Verbs

Ayabumu means to be afraid that something dangerous might happen or to fear.

Adverbs

Ayauku means to barely or narrowly.

Compounds

Compounds are nouns consisting of more than two characters.

Kiken means danger. Kiki is a crisis. “Kiki kanri” means risk management. Kikiippatsu is imminent danger or a narrow escape from danger. I put up these words in Japanese >>> here.

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1. Draw the sweeping stroke from the top.
2. Draw the hook touching the previous stroke.
3. Draw the horizontal stroke.
4. Draw the sweeping stroke.
5. Draw the hook with an upward turn.
6. Draw the curve with an upward turn.

To Save

To Save

suku-i, suku-u, kyū

Noun

Sukui means help, rescue, salvation, relief or saver.

Verbs

Sukuu means to save. The passive verb sukuwareru means to be saved.

Compounds

Rescue can be expressed as kyūjo or kyūshutsu. “Jin mei kyūjo” means lifesaving. The Salvation Army is “kyūsei gun.”

-Suru Verbs

Some words mentioned above become -suru verbs. Both “kyūjo suru” and “kyūshutsu suru” means to rescue.

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1. Draw the horizontal stroke.
2. Draw the vertical stroke with an upward turn.
3. Draw the dot from the upper left.
4. Draw the sweeping dot heading toward the upper right.
5. Draw the sweeping dot from the upper right.
6. Draw the dot below the previous dot.
7. Draw the dot above the horizontal stroke.
8. Begin to draw the right-hand side of the character. Draw the sweeping stroke from the top.
9. Draw the horizontal stroke touching the previous stroke.
10. Draw the sweeping stroke from the upper right to the lower left.
11. Draw the sweeping stroke crossing the previous stroke.

Question

Question

to-u, to-i, mon, ton

Nouns

When you mean questions, you can use toi, shitsumon, or mondai. However, these three words are not exactly the same. Toi is a philosophical question or a question asked in an examination. When you take a test, you might be asked, “tsugino toi ni kotaenasai.” That is, answer the following questions. Shitsumon is a question you ask casually. Mondai often means an issue or a problem you need to solve.

Verb

Tou means to ask. For example, you might ask true or false (shingi wo tou), or ask responsibility (sekinin wo tou). The latter actually means “to accuse.”

Compounds

Gakumon means academic study. Hōmon is a visit.

-Suru Verbs

Some words mentioned above become -suru verbs. “Mondaika suru” means to problematize. “Shitsumon suru” means to question. “Hōmon suru” means to visit.

Some kanji included here are not in our archives. If you want to see them in Japanese, visit >>> here.

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1. Draw the vertical stroke to the left.
2. Draw the hook touching the first stroke.
3. Draw the horizontal stroke below the hook.
4. Draw the horizontal stroke below the previous stroke.
5. Begin to draw the right-hand side. Draw the short vertical stroke from the top.
6. Draw the hook, which is composed of a short horizontal stroke and the long vertical stroke with an upward turn.
7. Draw the short horizontal stroke between the vertical strokes.
8. Draw the short horizontal stroke below the previous stroke.
9. Begin to draw the small rectangle. Draw the left side of the rectangle.
10. Draw the upper and right sides of the rectangle.
11. Draw the lower side of the rectangle.

Nail

Nail

tsume, sō

Nails, claws, and talons are called tsume. One of the most well-known sayings including this word is “nō aru taka wa tsume wo kakusu.” It means that a wise falcon hides its talons. It is interpreted that even if you have some abilities, you should not boast.

Tsumekiri means a nail clipper. Tsumeato literally means a scratch of nails. It also means scars left from a disaster. It’s often used for disaster-stricken area.

You can see other kanji >>> here.

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1. Draw the sweeping stroke on the top.
2. Draw the sweeping stroke to the left.
3. Draw the vertical stroke in the middle.
4. Draw the sweeping stroke to the right. Make the end broader.

Post Station

Post Station

yū

Today’s character means post station. We have only a few common words including this character.

Mail is yūbin and a post office is yūbinkyoku. Yūsōryō means postage. Do you want to see other characters in kanji? Visit here.

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1. Draw the sweeping stroke on the top.
2. Draw the horizontal stroke under the previous stroke.
3. Draw the horizontal stroke under the previous stroke.
4. Draw the short vertical stroke to the left touching the previous stroke.
5. Draw the other short vertical stroke.
6. Draw the horizontal stroke touching the vertical strokes.
7. Draw the long vertical stroke that go between the short vertical strokes.
8. Draw the horizontal stroke at the bottom.
9. Begin to draw the right-hand side of the stroke. Draw the hook.
10. Draw the hook touching the previous stroke.
11. Draw the vertical stroke.

To Hit

To Hit

u-tsu, da

Before writing about today’s kanji, I’m going to answer a question.

Dear Dizi, to answer your question, I’ll give you some advice about how to remember kanji.

It’s hard to remember kanji. It’s hard to remember English words. We learned kanji by writing each character many times. Every elementary school kid does so. I memorized English words by writing sentences that include them. When you study kanji, I think you should use both methods. Handwriting is very effective to remember each kanji. Even the native Japanese forget how to write kanji because we don’t write but type and convert. Use your hand. That’s my first suggestion. I don’t think you need to write each character dozens of times as we did when we were kids. Use the kana-kanji conversion system to have it convert from kana to kanji. This is the second. As you get used to it, you can choose which kanji is appropriate easily. If you know somebody who is not native but uses Japanese very well, ask them how they studied. I asked non-natives who use English very well the way they studied English. So find somebody who knows how to study Japanese as a foreign language. I once read that a Japanese learner had learned Japanese by making kanji cards by himself and sticking them on the walls to remember. Hope it helps you.

Let’s learn today’s kanji. What I have been doing these days on this blog is to divide words using the day’s character into some groups. Some characters are used for verbs and compounds. Some are used only for compounds.

Today’s character means to hit. We use this for verbs and compounds.

Verbs

Utsu means to hit or to strike. You might hit a ball (tama wo utsu). You might strike somebody’s heart (kokoro wo utsu).

When we use utsu and other verbs, it becomes uchi. Uchiageru (to school), uchiakeru (to confess), uchiawaseru (to make arrangements), and uchimakasu (to defeat) are some examples.

Compounds

From vocabulary used in baseball, dasha means a batter; daryoku means batting power; and kyōda means a strong hit.

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1. Draw the short horizontal stroke.
2. Draw the vertical stroke with an upward turn.
3. Draw the quasi-horizontal stroke sweeping toward the upper right.
4. Draw the horizontal stroke on the top.
5. Draw the vertical stroke with an upward turn.

To Extend

 

To Extend

 

no-biru, no-beru, no-basu, en

Verbs

Nobiru means to be postponed. Nobasu means to extend, to stretch out or to improve one’s ability.

Compounds

Enchō means putting off. “Enchō suru” means to postpone. It sometimes comes before other words.

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1. Draw the sweeping stroke on the top.
2. Draw the vertical stroke.
3. Draw the short horizontal stroke from the middle of the previous stroke to the right.
4. Draw the shorter vertical stroke.
5. Draw the horizontal stroke from the left to the right.
6. Draw the crooked stroke.
7. Draw the sweeping stroke.

The sixth stroke consists of two strokes and the character is categorized as 8-stroke character in the kanji dictionary.

To Do Something in Addition to Another

 

To Do Something in Addition to Another

 

ka-neru, ken

Verbs

This character always deals with more than one thing. The verb “kaneru” means to have more than one thing or to have more than one duty.

Compounds

Ken’yō means serving two purposes. Kennin and kenmu are almost the same. Both mean to have a concurrent post or to have an additional duty. Kenbi means to combine both or to have one thing accompanying another. With the same characters, kanesonaeru means the same. For example, “sai shokukenbi” describes about somebody who is not only talented but also beautiful.

You can see kennin, kenmu, kenbi, and kanesonaeru in Japanese here.

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1. Draw the dot on the top.
2. Draw the sweeping dot on the top.
3. Draw the horizontal stroke.
4. Draw the hook.
5. Draw the longest horizontal stroke.
6. Draw the horizontal stroke below it.
7. Draw the vertical stroke.
8. Draw the other vertical stroke.
9. Draw the sweeping stroke to the lower left.
10. Draw the sweeping stroke to the lower right.

Cool or Refreshing

 

Cool or Refreshing

 

suzu-shii, suzu-mu, ryō

Suzushii is an adjective that expresses a low temperature you feel comfortable. For example, on a hot summer day, when you go inside a building which is air-conditioned and feel comfortable, you can say, “suzushii.” The verb suzumu means to find such a comfortable place and enjoy the temperature. Yūsuzumi is a way you spend cool evening. It means to enjoy the cool air of the evening.

In early autumn, people might say, “suzushiku nattekimashita,” meaning “it’s getting cooler.” This expression is unseasonable. It’s getting colder now here in Japan.

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1. Draw the dot in the upper-left corner of the character.
2. Draw the dot below it.
3. Draw the upward stroke in the lower-left corner. This stroke is heading toward the next stroke.
4. Begin to draw the right-hand side of the character. Draw the dot on the top.
5. Draw the horizontal stroke.
6. Draw the left side of the rectangle.
7. Draw the upper and right sides of the rectangle.
8. Draw the lower side of the rectangle.
9. Draw the vertical stroke with an upward turn.
10. Draw the sweeping stroke.
11. Draw the dot to the right.