迎春 [げいしゅん] – New Year’s Greetings
- 迎 [ゲイ・むかえる] – to welcome, to greet
- 春 [シュン・はる] – spring (season)
昨年中は大変お世話になりました。今年も宜しくお願い致します！
Geishun
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Oomisoka
大晦日 [おおみそか] – New Year’s Eve
- 大 [ダイ・おお-・おおきい] – big, large
- 晦 [カイ・つごもり・くらい・みそか] – disappear; dark
- 日 [ニチ・ジツ・ひ・-か] – day; sun
Happy Big Disappearing Sun… day!
Gesshoku
月食 [げっしょく] – lunar eclipse
- 月 [ゲツ・ガツ・つき] – moon
- 食 [ショク・たべる] – to eat
Gotta love Japanese…
Right now, as I type this, the first full lunar eclipse on solstice in 456 years is visible in the United States. To give you an idea of how long ago that was, Elizabeth I wasn’t even queen yet. (In fact, she was imprisoned in the Tower of London.)
冬至点おめでとうございます！
Tantan
淡々 [たんたん] – disinterest; indifference
- 淡 [タン・あわい] – thin; pale; fleeting
- 々 – symbol that indicates repetition of the previous character
To me, the kanji 淡 is a great example of how understanding pieces parts can help you to both understand and remember characters. It comprises 3 distinct radicals, 2 of which are repeated: 水 (water) + 火 (fire) + 火 (fire) = 淡.
Does it make sense that adding water to fire would make the fire appear fleeting or faint? Does this give you a picture of how the Chinese may have thought of this concept when formulating this character?
When water is used as the 部首 [ぶしゅ] (radical of a kanji), it is called 水部 [すいぶ]. When it is in the left portion of a kanji and rendered as 氵, it is called さんずい. It looks like 3 droplets of water, doesn’t it?
When fire is used as a radical, it is called 火部 [かぶ]. Often, it occurs in its full form (火) in the left or right portions of a character (偏旁 [へんぼう]). However, when it shows up in the bottom–literally the “foot” (脚 [あし]) of a character–it is rendered as 灬.
As mentioned above, 々 is a symbol, not a character. It indicates that you should pronounce the previous kanji again. 々 acts as a shortcut, making it so that you don’t have to write out the character twice.
See if you can use this information to help you crack open unfamiliar kanji!
Urizanegao
瓜実顔 [うりざねがお] – oval-shaped face
- 瓜 [カ・うり] – melon
- 実 [ジツ・み・さね] – reality; truth
- 顔 [ガン・かお] – face
瓜実顔 probably isn’t a terribly useful word, nor have I actually ever heard it in conversation, but I stumbled upon it today and thought it was interesting, so…
Happy Veterans Day
退役軍人の日 [たいえきぐんじんのひ] – Veterans Day
- 退 [タイ・しりぞく] – retreat; retire; resign
- 役 [ヤク・エキ] – duty
- 軍 [ヤク・エキ] – military; army
- 人 [ジン・ひと] – person
- の [grammatical] – ‘s
- 日 [ニチ・ひ] – day
Tōhyō
投票 [とうひょう] – voting; poll
- 投 [トウ・なげる] – to throw; to invest in
- 票 [ヒョウ] – ballot; ticket
Did you throw in your ballot yesterday?
Sokuji
即時 [そくじ] – prompt; immediate; in real time
- 即 [ソク・つく] – instant; as-is
- 時 [ジ・とき] – time
Kumishiyasui
与し易い [くみしやすい] – easy to deal with; manageable
- 与し [くみし] – participate in; give; bestow
- 易い [やすい] – easy; simple
Soramimi
Are you familiar with “misheard lyrics?” This is a phenomenon that occurs when song lyrics are misheard and taken to be something else (e.g. “‘Scuze me while I kiss this guy” instead of “‘Scuze me while I kiss the sky” from the Jimi Hendrix song “Purple Haze.”)
“Misheard lyrics” is a thing in Japan, too. It’s called 空耳 [そらみみ] – “empty-ear”, and often involves the Japanese hearing Japanese lyrics in songs that are definitely not Japanese. Two of my favorites are:
- 誰の落書き？困るぜ！ [だれのらくがき？こまるぜ！] – “Whose graffiti is this? Somebody is in trouble!” (Original: “There ain’t no doctor that can cure my disease” – Bon Jovi)
- 馬鹿だもん！ [ばかだもん!] – I’m an idiot! (Original: “Bark at the Moon” – Ozzy Osbourne)
Do you know any 空耳? If so, leave a comment and share with the class!