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.
