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I have started to learn a couple kanji each day (anywhere from 2 to 5) and I wanted to check a few with everyone to make sure I got it down right:
火 ＝ fire = （くんよみ） ひ （おんよみ ＝ カ – I am confused as to when to use this (see here: http://jisho.org/words?jap=%E7%81%AB%20%E3%81%8B&dict=edict). I find only ひ as meaning fire, so why would I use カ/か？）
水＝ Water = （くん） みず、 スイ （すい、おん） – again, when would I use the on yomi? (maybe: ”水
すい
1: (Abbreviation) Wednesday;
2: shaved ice (served with flavored syrup);
3: water (fifth of the five elements)
Also, for both fire and water, are there any radicals used? I figured water uses ‘barb’ but I don’t know what else and fire uses something that looks like 人 but is slightly different– what I want to know is, should I just flat out remember 火 and 水 as is, or are there some radicals that I am missing?
風= wind (かぜ — kun) while the on (=) フウ（ふう）and means wind as an element, appearance, air, etc. My question with this is, could I still use the kun (かぜ) and still have it mean wind as an elements as opposed to using the on (ふう) which seems to have many more meanings attached to it? (I like this kanji more than the other two (fire and water) because it it a perfect combo of 3 radicals (bug, table, slide))地 = earth (on = either ジ or ち, no kun — why? (どうして？– correct?)) Is ち more commonly used than ジ？
空
から
emptiness; vacuum; blankCommon word, Noun, No-adjective
Sentences
Kanji details
External links空
そら
sky; the heavensCommon word, Noun
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Kanji details
External links空
うろ
hollow; cavity; holeNoun
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Kanji details
External links空
くう
1: empty air; sky;
2: (Buddhist term) shunya (emptiness, the lack of an immutable intrinsic nature within any phemomenon);
3: (Abbreviation) air force; ()
4: fruitlessness; meaninglessness;
5: void (one of the five elements)O.k, void. Probably the one with the most ways to say it (see http://jisho.org/kanji/details/%E7%A9%BA) Would I just want to use the おんよみ for this, クウ（くう）for using at as meaning the element, void. 「edit:] I just remembered that I also was wondering if the top half of void uses 1 single kanji, I know the ‘I’ looking thing on the bottom is ‘construction’ (according to the radicals cheat sheet), I see that ‘legs’ and ‘helmet’ could go together, but I found ‘hole’ which is the ‘helmet’ and one line which looks like the left line on ‘legs’ while the right line on ‘hole’ looks different. What I was wondering was, does it matter if I use the 3 radicals (‘legs’, ‘construction’, and ‘helmet’) or if I just use the 2 radicals (‘hole’ and ‘construction’) and just remember to change the right line with the ‘hole’ radical to look more a ‘L’.
木 ＝ tree, き, nuff said, but I was wondering if there were any radicals to go with this. According to jisho, only itself goes with itself, but I found on the radicals cheat sheet that ‘toe’ and ‘leaf’ can make this kanji… So should I just memorize it flat out, 4 strokes, or just combine two radicals (do the radicals even work? When I wrote it out it looked like it did, but maybe the proportion or something is off…)
Does the usage of くんよみ and おんよみ vary based on the kanji? Could someone explain this more, perhaps more specifically in relation to the kanji I brought up earlier?
(source: jisho.org for pastings)-
This topic was modified 12 years ago by
Yamada. Reason: Remembered another question (about void's (空) radical)
毎秒は一世一代。
AnonymousWell I can’t give you a good reason as to why there are kun’yomi and on’yomi – maybe a linguist could give you a good answer. But as far as I know, when kanji are combined, different words form. And when that happens, different readings occur for some reason.
For example, 火山（かざん）means volcano. 水深（すいしん）means water depth.
As for the radical question you have, I do believe Koichi made ‘fire’ and ‘water’ into original radicals. In the description he uses old radicals like barb, but he finalizes barb and other things into a new radical. Then you have less things to memorize (you could just memorize the radical ‘water’ instead of barb and other things).
The meaning of the kanji rarely changes despite kun’yomi or on’yomi usage. For example, 風（かぜ）means wind, while 台風（たいふう）means typhoon.
Some kanji just don’t have kun’yomi. Probably because Japan didn’t add their reading to that particular Chinese character.
You seem to think that using the on’yomi instead of the kun’yomi changes the entire meaning of a kanji. It generally does not – the meaning of anything most entirely depends on the actual vocab.
I personally recommend that you just follow Koichi’s radicals in order. As you learn more complex radicals, you will see that those radicals have smaller radicals in them that you don’t need to know as long as you remember the more complex radical.
Yes, depending on the kanji, usage of kun’yomi and on’yomi can vary. Traditionally, the kun’yomi is used when the kanji is alone or has okurigana. On’yomi is used when there is compound kanji. But as mentioned, there are exceptions – on’yomi might be used even when the kanji is alone (popular example: numbers 1-10), and kun’yomi might be used in compounds. Exceptions are everywhere – you’re better off memorizing the vocab itself.
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This reply was modified 12 years ago by
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I find only ひ as meaning fire, so why would I use カ/か？）
水＝ Water = （くん） みず、 スイ （すい、おん） – again, when would I use the on yomi? (maybe: ” 水
すいTuesday = 火曜日 (かようび)
Wednesday = 水曜日 (すいようび)
For example.
Also, for both fire and water, are there any radicals used?
Fire and water are radicals in their own right. As is tree.
「edit:] I just remembered that I also was wondering if the top half of void uses 1 single kanji, I know the ‘I’ looking thing on the bottom is ‘construction’ (according to the radicals cheat sheet), I see that ‘legs’ and ‘helmet’ could go together, but I found ‘hole’ which is the ‘helmet’ and one line which looks like the left line on ‘legs’ while the right line on ‘hole’ looks different. What I was wondering was, does it matter if I use the 3 radicals (‘legs’, ‘construction’, and ‘helmet’) or if I just use the 2 radicals (‘hole’ and ‘construction’) and just remember to change the right line with the ‘hole’ radical to look more a ‘L’.
You’re putting way too much thought into the radicals here. Just memorise it whichever way works best for you.
Well I can’t give you a good reason as to why there are kun’yomi and on’yomi – maybe a linguist could give you a good answer.
Because kanji was copied from a country which had a pre-existing language, and brought to another country which also already had a pre-existing language. It’s similar to how you get creoles and pidgins, only in this case we wound up with on’yomi and kun’yomi.
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This topic was modified 12 years ago by
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