When is a chair not a chair?

The Japanese kanji 椅子 (isu) means chair or stool, and also post, office or position. The word チェア (chea) is used for chair in words like オフィスチェア (ofisuchea), which means office/desk/computer chair.

There are other words pronounced isu or something similar which mean different things:

• イス (isu) = swords (suit in playing cards)
• 異数 (isū) = unusual, exceptional, phenomenal
• 逸す (issu) = to lose, miss, overlook, omit
• 伊豆 (izu) = Izu (place name)
• 出ず (izu) = to leave, exit, go out

In Mandarin Chinese a chair is 椅子 (yǐzi). The character 椅 (yǐ) on its own also means chair.

There are other words with similar pronunciation which mean different things:

• 胰子 (yízi) = soap, pancreas (of pigs, sheep, etc)
• 义子 [義子] (yìzǐ) = an adopted son

There are some longer words that include some variation on yizi, such as

• 一字(一)字 (yīzì(-yī)zì) = word by word
• 一子儿 [一字兒] (yī ziér) = hank, small bundle; in a line, in a row
• 易子而食 (yì zi ér shí) = exchange of children for food (during extreme famine)
• 以资鼓励 [以資鼓勵] (yǐzīgǔlì) = to give an honors testimony for; as an encouragement

Sources: Jisho, LINE Chinese-English Dictionary, 汉英大词典 Chinese-English Comprehensive ABC Dictionary

This was inpsired by this post on Instagram:

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So this post is sort of right – in Japanese if you mispronounce the word for chair it can mean something different, but not what whoever made this post thinks. I know it’s a joke, but it would be funnier if they had actually checked.

You can find more language-related nonsense like this on The Language Nerds website.

A Japanese lesson that I studied on Duolingo today included names of parts of Tokyo. One of these was 渋谷 (Shibuya), which, according to Wikipedia, is a major commercial and finance centre, and houses two of the busiest railway stations in the world, Shibuya (渋谷駅) and Shinjuku (新宿駅).

The first character in Shibuya (渋) is rare, and I haven’t seen it anywhere else. On it’s own it means the “astringent taste of unripe persimmon fruit” and is a simplified form of 澁 (jū/shibu), which is mainly used in personal names [source].

The second character in Shibuya (谷) means valley, lowland or plain. It’s pronounced tani, kiwa, koku or ya.

渋 is pronounced shū, sō, jū or shibu. It appears in words such as:

• 渋滞 (shūtai) = (traffic) congestion, delay, stagnation
• 渋い (shibui) = astringent, bitter, rough, harsh, tart; austere, elegant; glum, sullen, sulky; stingy, tight-fisted
• 渋る (shiburu) = to hesitate, hold back, falter; be reluctant, be unwilling; begrudge
• 渋面 (shūmen) = grimace, sullen face (😒)
• 渋々 (shibushibu) = reluctantly, unwillingly
• 渋い顔をする (shibui kao o suru) = to frown, be grim-faced, look sullen
• 渋色 (shibuiro) = tan (colour)
• 渋ちん (shibu chan) = stingy person, miser, scrooge

The character 澁 (sè) exists in Chinese, and is an old variant of 澀 [涩] (sè), which means astringent, tart, puckery,acerbity, unsmooth, rough, hard to understand, obscure. This is quite appropriate as it’s quite an obscure character.

Now trying saying 这柿子涩 (zhè shìzi sè) many times as quickly as you can. It means the persimmon tasts puckery, a word I hadn’t come across before that means high in tannins (of wine), causing pucking or tending to pucker.

Sources: jisho, MDBG, LINE Dict Chinese-English, The Free Dictionary

The Japanese word 賑やか / にぎやか (nigiyaka) means bustling, busy, crowded, lively, prosperous or thriving, and also loud, noisy, merry or cheerful​. I find it very satisfying to say, which is why I chose to write about it today.

Here are some examples of how it’s used and related words (from Jisho.org and Reverso):

• 私の家はにぎやかな通りに面しています。 (Watashi no ie wa nigiyaka tōri ni menshiteimasu) = My house faces a busy street
• 森は鳥でにぎやかだ。 (Mori wa tori de nigiyaka da) = The wood is alive with birds.
• 夜になると屋台なども出て、たいへん賑やかです。 (Yoru ni naru to yatai nado mo dete, taihen nigiyaka desu) = At night there are food stalls and it’s very lively.
• 賑わう (nigiwau) = to be crowded with people, to be bustling, to prosper, flourish, do thriving business
• 賑わい (nigiwai) = prosperity, bustle, activity, crowd, turnout
• 賑わす (nigiwasu) = to enliven, cause a stir, hit (the headlines), make prosperous
• 賑やかさ (nigiyakasa) = business, liveliness
• 賑々しい (niginigishii) = lively, merry
• 賑あう (nigiau) = to prosper, flourish, be crowded with people

In Mandarin the character 赈 [賑] (zhèn) means to relieve or relief. It appears in such words as:

• 赈济 [賑濟] (zhènjì) = to relieve, to give relief aid
• 赈济饥荒 [賑濟饑荒] (zhènjì jīhuāng) = famine relief
• 赈灾 [賑災] (zhèn​zāi) = disaster relief
• 赈恤 [賑恤] (zhènxù) = relief aid

One Chinese equivalent of 賑やか is 热闹 [熱鬧] (rènao), which means bustling with noise and excitement, lively, to liven up, a spectacle, or literally “hot noisy”. Most Chinese people I know prefer places that are 热闹 to ones that are too 安静 (ānjìng – quiet, peaceful), and as most places in China and Taiwan are 热闹, this is probably a good thing.

Sources: LINE Dictionary Chinese – English, MDBG Word Dictionary

I generally prefer quiet, peaceful places, but occasionally don’t mind a bit of lively bustle. How about you?

I am currently (re)learning Japanese, and am noticing some differences between the meanings of characters in Japanese (漢字 – kanji) and in Chinese (汉字 [漢字] hànzì). In some cases the meanings are similar but subtly different, in other cases they’re completely different.

For example, in Mandarin Chinese 高 (gāo) means tall or high (高的 gāode), or senior (高级的 gāojíde), while in Japanese 高 (taka), means quantity, amount (of money), volume or number, 高い (takai) means high, tall, expensive, above average or loud, and 高 (kō) means high (school).

The Chinese word for expensive is 贵 [貴] (guì), which also means valuble. In Japanese this character, 貴 (ki), means your, and indicates high rank, status, love or respect. Or when it’s pronounced mochi it means lord, god, goddess, and is used in honorific title for deities and high-ranking people. One Japanese word for you is あなた (anata), which is usually written in hiragana, but can be written with the kanji 貴方. In very formal written Chinese 贵方 [貴方] (guìfāng) can be used to mean you.

The Japanese word for cheap is 安い (yasui), while the same character in Chinese, 安 (ān), means quiet or safe. The Chinese word for cheap is 便宜 (pián​yi), which in Japanese is pronounced bengi and means convenience, accommodation, advantage, benefit or expediency​.

The character 便 is also pronouned biàn in Mandarin, and means convenient, convenience and to excrete. It appears in the word 便利 (biànlì) = convenient, to faciliate, which also exists in Japanese as 便利 (benri) meaning convenient, handy or useful.

The character 利 (lì) means sharp, advantageous, interest or to profit in Mandarin. In Japanese it’s pronounced ri and means advantage, benefit, profit or interest​. It appears in the word 利益 (lìyì / rieki), which means benefit in Mandarin, and profit or gains in Japanese, and also in 利害 (lìhai / rigai) which means terrible in Mandarin, and advantages and disadvantages in Japanese. Which should not be confused with 厉害 [厲害] (lìhai), which means terrbile, terribly or awesome, and is used as a general intensifier in Mandarin. The equivalent in Japanese is 素晴らしい (subarashī).

There are many more. Have you noticed any?

Sources: LINE Dict Chinese-English, jisho.org