Confusing Kanji - Part 4 -

A radical difference

In part four of my series Confusing Kanji, i want to show some Kanji, where a radical inside the Kanji is changed, but the still looks similar.

1. Mei (fate life, command), Rei (orders, command), Kai (to meet, meeting) and Kon (now)

命　令　会　今　

As you see, the top of these four Kanji are the same, but the lower part is different. You will see the first two often in combination as meirei (命令). Especially rei and kon are easy to get mixed up, since the only difference is the line on the bottom.

2. Koyomi (calendar) and Ma (grind, polish)

暦　磨

Notice that there are two differences. The first is the radical in the lower part. While the koyomi has nichi, ma has the ishi radical. And second, on top of the Kanji the small line is not needed in the koyomi Kanji.

3. Sora (sky), Kyuu (research, study) and Totsu (stab, thrusting)

空　究　突*

As with number 1 the top is same in all three Kanji. The sora Kanji has the radical takumi, kyuu the radical kyuu as the number nine and totsu has the big radical dai. As a reading tip, the first one share the same onyomi with their lower radical.

* I don't know why blogspot prints this Kanji with the dog radical inu. While it exists, it is not in the JLPT and the normally used one, is the one described above with the dai radical without the dot.

4.  Tera (temple), Shi (samurai, warrior), Tai (wait, depend on) and Ji (hold, have)

寺　侍　待　持

The difference in these four Kanji is obviously the radical in the front.

The Kanji shi, tai and ji share all the tera radical which is the Kanji for temple (buddhist). The radical in front of shi is hito so we can remember, that this Kanji is related to a person, therefore samurai. The radical in front tai means to stop, we know it from 行く, which means "to go", so it indicates something involving movement. As with the radical hito, the radical for hand also looks sometimes different. It's the one in front on ji, so doing something with your hand.

5. Bun (hear, ask, listen), Mon (ask, question, problem) and Kan (space, interval) 

聞　問　間

Τhe bun Kanji has the mimi radical for ear, that is why this Kanji also means "to listen" and not only to ask. The mon Kanji on the other hand has the kuchi radical for mouth, so it can only be used for "asking" or for problem as in mondai (問題). The third on means space or interval has the nichi radical.

In the next part i will show some more Kanji which change with a radical.

Confusing Kanji - Part 3 -

One line difference

Lets look at five more Confusing Kanji where a small line can make difference.

1. Shin (spicey, bitter) and kou (happiness, blessing)

辛　幸　

While meaning almost the opposite, the Kanji looks almost the same. The only difference is the horizontal line on the top of the kou Kanji.

2. Ei (long, eternity), Sui (water) and Koori (ice)

永　水　氷

The biggest difference is the small point on top of the Kanji to differentiate the vertical line in the middle. Notice the small horizontal line on top of the body, coming from the left. Normally you draw this line, too. The Kanji for koori is the same as mizu mizu, but with a small line on the left side of the vertical line in the middle and over the left part.

3. Uri (melon) and Tsume (fingernail, toenail)

瓜　 爪

The Kanji for uri and tsume can be confusing, but the good thing is, that the uri Kanji is uncommon and not even in the JLPT. But when being in Japan, you will be seeing it. Most likely for Melon and Cucumber ( 胡瓜 ).

4. Ji (character, letter, word) and Gaku (science, learning)

字　学

The ji and gaku are thematically related, so you may see them in the same Text. The difference is the radical on top. The gaku Kanji has three lines, while the ji only has on.

5. Hoku (north) and Hi (compare)

北　比　

The next two are the Kanji for hoku and hi. Here the difference is the left radical. The vertical line of the left radical of hoku Kanji goes through and is made up of three lines, while he hi Kanji is just to lines, with the end pointing to the right.

With the difference in the radical with the last two examples, the next Parts will concentrate on confusing Kanji, where the radical make the difference.

Confusing Kanji - Part 2 -

One line difference

Lets look at Confusing Kanji where even a small line can make difference. Quite similar to number 5 from the last part, are the next the Kanji.

1. Shiro (white), Ji (oneself) and Me (eye)

白 自 目　

The first kanji stands for white and is almost the same as nichi. Except the small line on top. The Kanji for ji has two lines inside the box. And the Kanji for me as in eye is the same as the Kanji for ji except the line on top.

2. Ki (tree) and Hon (book)

木　本　

The next two are the Kanji for ki and book. The difference between those two Kanji, is the vertical line at the bottom between the two slope lines on each side. 

3. Kyuu (to rest) and Karada (body)

休　体

As with above the only difference is the vertical line. Except this time, you have the radical for hito in front. So

4. Dai (big), inu (dog) and futoi (plump, thick)

大　犬　太

More or less as you see. Depending on where the small dot is, the Kanji for dai changes. Is there a dot on the right upper side it becomes inu. And is in the middle, under the Kanji it becames futoi.

5. Fu (un-, non-, bad) and shita (under)

不　下

The last one are the Kanji fu and shita. The difference between those two is more or less the slope line on the left side.

The next part will also be about Kanji that change with small additional lines.

Confusing Kanji - Part 1 -

Different length and angles of lines

Learing Japanese and especially reading and writing Kanji can be quite confusing. While learing a lot of Kanji over the past years, i have seen, that i often confuse the same Kanji, that look similar. So i wanted to create this small series where i show you 5 sets of Kanji, that look smiliar and where you have to pay attention. In this part i want to concentrate on Kanji where the length and the angle of the lines are important to differentiate between the Kanji.

1. Tsuchi (earth, soil) and Shi (gentleman, samurai)

土　士

The difference is the lenght of the horizontal line. While the Kanji for tsuchi the upper on is longer, the kanji for shi the lower one is the shorter.

2. Matsu (end) and Mada (still, not yet)

末　未

The next two are the Kanji for matsu and mada. As above in matsu the upper one is longer, while in mada the lower one is.

3. I (to put in, go into) and Hito (person)

入　人

This is one of the examples, where there even is a difference between the written Kanji and computer font character. I the Kanji for I the right line is longer than the left one and it looks like it supports the right side. The font version of hito is symmetrical, while the written form should be the opposite (The right line should be shorter and support the left side).

4. Sen (thousand) and hoshi (dry)

千　干 

While the the upper line  for Sen is more of a slope, the upper line from hoshi is parrallel to the lower one.

5. Nichi (day) and Iwaku (say, reason)

日　曰

I´ve only seen the second twice and it is not even in the JLPT so i may not be so important, but since i encountered it more than once it is used sometimes. The difference is that in the Kanji for nichi the line inside the box touches the box on the right side, while iwaku stops right before.

As of now, there are five more Post in this series, so don´t miss them.