Hi, it’s me again with (hopefully) another great post breaking down the intricacies of the hardest language on the planet (pats myself on back). This time we are going to take a deeper look at a word that probably every hard-core anime fan is already familiar with: \u300c\u672c\u5f53\u300d.<\/p>\n
\u672c\u5f53\uff1f\uff01That’s \u8d85 Awesome!! \u2190 (Don’t ever talk like this)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Calm down. This is not a Japanese anime lesson like, for instance “Reiko-chan’s site<\/a>“, a site so cool it makes me want to cry. Instead, I’m going to look at how the individuals characters \u300c\u672c\u300d and \u300c\u5f53\u300d are used in ways you may not be aware of. You’ll see that these characters are used quite often in Japanese that is slightly more mature than Sailor Moon.<\/p>\n
It’s the real stuff<\/h3>\n
\u300c\u672c\u300d is so useful that it’s probably one of the first characters everybody learns. You probably already know that it means, “book” by itself and is also part of the word for “Japan” \uff08\u65e5\u672c\uff09. You may even know that it’s a counter for bottles, something you’ll need to know if you’re a
drunkard<\/strike> salaryman like me.<\/p>\nBut did you know that \u300c\u672c\u300d also means, “the real thing”? In fact, the word \u300c\u672c\u7269\u300d means exactly that as it uses \u300c\u672c\u300d with \u300c\u7269\u300d, the character for object. Other examples include words such as: \u672c\u65e5\u3001\u672c\u4eba\u3001\u672c\u6765\u3001\u672c\u5834\u3001\u672c\u756a\u3001\u672c\u97f3\u3001\u672c\u683c\u7684\u3001\u672c\u6c17\u3001\u672c\u540d. The \u300c\u672c\u300d in all these words act like a prefix indicating that it’s the genuine thing.<\/p>\n
Let’s take a closer look at \u300c\u672c\u65e5\u300d and \u300c\u672c\u4eba\u300d and the role \u300c\u672c\u300d plays in each word.<\/p>\n
\u672c\u65e5<\/h3>\n
\u300c\u672c\u65e5\u300d\uff08\u307b\u3093\u3058\u3064\uff09 essentially means “today”, but why have another word for “today” when you already have \u300c\u4eca\u65e5\u300d? The only difference, as you can see, is the use of \u300c\u672c\u300d instead of \u300c\u4eca\u300d. In other words, as opposed to the present day, \u300c\u672c\u65e5\u300d means, “the real day” (the only “real day” being the current one).<\/p>\n
\uff11\uff09\u4eca\u65e5<\/b>\u6765\u3066\u304f\u308c\u3066\u3042\u308a\u304c\u3068\u3046\u3002
\n– Thanks for coming today.<\/p>\n\uff12\uff09\u672c\u65e5<\/b>\u306f\u3001\u3054\u6765\u5834\u3042\u308a\u304c\u3068\u3046\u3054\u3056\u3044\u307e\u3057\u305f\u3002
\n– I would like to thank everybody for coming today.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThe only real, practical difference between \u300c\u4eca\u65e5\u300d and \u300c\u672c\u65e5\u300d is that \u300c\u672c\u65e5\u300d sounds more official, similar to the difference between saying, “at this point in time” versus saying just “now”. While the practical difference is a bit unrelated, knowing the precise difference between the kanji will help you get a feel for where this difference comes from.<\/p>\n
\u672c\u4eba<\/h3>\n
\u300c\u672c\u4eba\u300d\uff08\u307b\u3093\u306b\u3093\uff09 is a very useful word mainly because Japanese doesn’t have any pronouns. While you can say \u300c\u81ea\u5206\u300d for oneself, you don’t have the equivalent for himself or herself. So if you wanted to say, “Talk to the man, himself”, \u300c\u672c\u4eba\u300d is a handy way to easily refer to the real person in question. Here’s a quick example.<\/p>\n
\uff21\uff09\u7530\u4e2d\u3055\u3093\u306f\u3001\u3044\u3064\u7d50\u5a5a\u3059\u308b\u306e\uff1f
\n– When is Tanaka-san getting married?<\/p>\nB)\u672c\u4eba<\/b>\u306b\u805e\u3044\u305f\u3089\u3069\u3046\uff1f
\n– How about asking the actual person, himself?<\/p><\/blockquote>\nIn addition, expect to see this word used often in applications such as for visas or passports that need to describe what the applicant, herself, must do.<\/p>\n
\u30d1\u30b9\u30dd\u30fc\u30c8\u3092\u53d7\u3051\u53d6\u308b\u6642\u306b\u306f\u3001\u672c\u4eba<\/b>\u304c\u5fc5\u305a\u7a93\u53e3\u306b\u304a\u3044\u3067\u4e0b\u3055\u3044\u3002
\n– When getting the passport, the applicant, herself, must come to the window.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThis meaning of “genuine” is related to the original meaning of “root” (hence the tree character \uff08\u6728\uff09 with a line across the bottom of the tree). Also derived from the same meaning, \u300c\u672c\u300d can be used to mean “main”. Examples of this usage include words like: \u672c\u4f53\u3001\u672c\u9928\u3001\u672c\u793e\u3001\u672c\u5dde\u3001\u672c\u6587.<\/p>\n
It’s the stuff in question<\/h3>\n
The second character \u300c\u5f53\u300d is just as useful as \u300c\u672c\u300d and almost as common. The character by itself describes when something hits its target. For instance, the verb \u300c\u5f53\u305f\u308b\u300d is used to describe winning a raffle because you were successfully targeted from the random selection. The \u300c\u5f53\u300d character is similarly used in a variety of kanji compounds to describe the targeted time or location. This is very useful for talking about the time or location in question by using words such as: \u5f53\u6708\u3001\u5f53\u65e5\u3001\u5f53\u6642\u3001\u5f53\u793e\u3001\u5f53\u5e97\u3001\u8a72\u5f53. Here’s a simple example.<\/p>\n
\u3053\u306e\u5207\u7b26\u306f\u767a\u58f2\u5f53\u65e5<\/b>\u306e\u307f\u6709\u52b9\u3067\u3059\u3002
\n-This ticket is only valid on the day of purchase.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nIn the example above, you could have simply described the day that the ticket was bought by saying something like \u300c\u8cb7\u3063\u305f\u65e5\u300d but it’s not as concise or as professional-sounding as \u300c\u767a\u58f2\u5f53\u65e5\u300d.<\/p>\n
This type of usage is very useful because no matter what the actual time is, it refers only to the time in question. That means that if it’s understood by the context, you don’t have to go through the pain of describing exactly which time that is. Here’s another example.<\/p>\n
\u5f53\u6642<\/b>\u306f\u3001\u904b\u8ee2\u514d\u8a31\u3092\u6301\u3063\u3066\u306a\u304b\u3063\u305f\u306e\u3067\u3001\u3069\u3053\u306b\u3082\u884c\u3051\u306a\u304b\u3063\u305f\u3093\u3067\u3059\u3088\u3002
\n-At that time, I didn’t have a driver’s license so I couldn’t go anywhere.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nHere’s another example using a location instead of time.<\/p>\n
\u5f53\u5e97<\/b>\u3067\u306f\u540d\u524d\u3092\u96a0\u3057\u3066\u8ca9\u58f2\u3059\u308b\u3088\u3046\u306a\u5546\u54c1\u306f\u6271\u3063\u3066\u304a\u308a\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3002
\n-We do not handle products that are sold with hidden names at our stores.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\u300c\u3053\u306e\u5e97\u300d would also make sense in this sentence but since there may be more than one store and you’re not specifying a store at a specific location, \u300c\u5f53\u5e97\u300d is used to refer vaguely to the store in question.<\/p>\n
Conclusion<\/h3>\n
We took at look at the kanji making up \u300c\u672c\u5f53\u300d, their real meanings, and how they are used in a variety of words. I hope this will help you easily understand a whole slew of new words that use the same kanji. Getting a true sense of what each individual kanji means in this fashion often gives you important clues and mnemonics for learning new words, which is one of the great benefits of using kanji.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hi, it’s me again with (hopefully) another great post breaking down the intricacies of the hardest language on the planet (pats myself on back). This time we are going to take a deeper look at a word that probably every … Continue reading