#batch01

委

committee, entrust to, leave to, devote, discard

strokes: 8

on'yomi: イ

kun'yomi: ゆだねる

In this post, I'm going to be taking about rice stealing daughters. No, really, I am.

I like these simple kanji with only two radicals. 

We start with 禾 [のぎ]*. In Japanese, this radical is usually called のぎへん (偏, remember?! To the left, to the left. Everything you own in a box to the left~♫). Why? Because you see it in kanji such as 私 [わたし]. Even first year Japanese students should know that kanji. I'll ban you from this tumblr if you don't. Anyway, in this case, かんむり (冠, remember?! I... don't have song lyrics for this one. :|;;;) is the position of this radical. Or, y'know, top kanji radical. In Japanese, it means 'two branch tree' radical. Lord knows why, when there's like SIX BRANCHES RIGHT THERE. Here's how it gets more confusing... It's called the 'two branch tree' radical, but it really refers to the ear of wheat, which refers to the grain to comes from it. Chinese people simply call it the 'grain' radical. None of this two branch business. I suppose if you walk on your hands, the radical looks like wheat! 

The next radical is 女 [おんな], the radical for 'woman.' Can you see it? It's a pictogram. To be honest, I've always thought of it as a woman wearing a kimono. Usually called おんなへん because you see it in kanji such as 好き [すき]. Here it acts as an あし (脚!!! Bottom!!!) radical. 

So how to we get 'entrust to'/'leave to' from grain + woman? Men were the ones who handled the farming and harvesting, weren't they? So this kanji should have composed of grain + man. Then again, I'm sure people who lived in the countryside had to use all the resources they could--which probably included women working as farmers. You can think of it like that, I suppose.

Or you can think like me.

Back in high school, during one history class where we were discussing Confucius, my history teacher said something like this: Once a daughter gets married in China, she then belongs completely to her husband's family. Her own family pays a dowry to ensure that she gets a good match. The compensation is that if the daughter marries into a high-class family, her own family will have access to the connections and power that come with that. So you get the name and fame. ...which is pretty much BS, right? On the downside, a daughter can never carry on the family line. And there aren't *that* many high class families around. You spend money to train her and rice to feed her and *then* you have to pay for her to get married. Daughters are nothing but rice stealers. 

...**

THE POINT IS... by feeding these daughters (女) one's grain (禾), one entrusts to (委)  them the responsibility of boosting one's family's social standing. :| So woman + grain = entrust. 

Aaaaadventure time. A really boring one:

委ねる [ゆだねる] - to entrust to, devote oneself to, surrender oneself to...

委任する [イニンする] - The second kanji is associated with obligation/duty. Entrust + duty = to entrust, to delegate. 

教委 [キョーイ] - The first kanji is associated with teaching/teachers/learning/etc. Don't forget that 委 also means 'committee'! So stuff regarding education + committee = BOARD OF EDUCATION, YEAH. 

委員 [イイン] - Second kanji means 'member.' Committee + member = committee member. Okay, that was boring.  

*Not to be confused with 木 [き], or 'tree.'

暗

darkness, disappear, shade, informal, grow dark, be blinded

strokes: 13

on'yomi: アン

kun'yomi: くらい、くらむ,くれる

This might be a little confusing. I'm already confused actually. Here we goooo!

There are two ways you can look at this. I'll start with the one related to the formula above. Two parts make the whole.

The first radical is 日*[にち]. Everyone should know this kanji/radical. If you don't know this kanji, go throw yourself off a bridge. Repeat the process. Don't worry, this post will still be here when you get back. This radical is the 'day' radical. The proper term for this radical is にちへん. 偏 because it's on the left side. (REMEMBER? :D) This radical/kanji can also mean 'sun.' (Hello, Land of the Rising Sun!) Sometimes, it's also called ひへん. ひ is just another way of reading it and it also means 'day.' But uh, this can be confusing since that phrase can be used to refer to the 'fire' radical. Yeah.   

The second radical may look like two radicals, but it's actually just one: 音 [おと]. I know some of you are doubting me right now, thinking "But Soup! How can I trust you! You're a big fat liar!" Have no fear, friends! You can check the validity of my claim by looking up radical 180**, which should be this one. This radical means 'sound' and occupies the 旁 [つくり] position of the kanji--that is, the right half. By the way, yes, that was a new term you need to know. C:

So what do we have here? Day + sound = dark? Uhhh what, that makes no sense. Hey, Chinese people, wtf! I guess you can think of it as... how it's pretty quiet at night (when it's dark) as opposed to day? Yeah, that's not going to work for me either. 

I suggest we use a nontraditional method of dissecting this kanji. This is the second way to look at 暗; by splitting it into three parts instead of two, we can make up more BS about it. 

We keep the first radical 日.

And now we split the second radical into two separate radicals. The first is 立 [たつ]. Called たつへん (REMEMBER 偏? YES AGAIN) sometimes because you usually see to the left side of the kanji. (Like so: 端 [そば]. Yes, like in soba ni iru, though that phrase usually uses this kanji for soba--> 側. They mean the same thing, just different nuances I guess. But don't ask me to explain because hell if I know the difference.) ANYWAY, I don't know what it's called in this case. I don't even know what type of radical it is. I don't really care, sorry. XD The important thing is that 立 means 'to stand.'

Underneath that, you find 日. This is the exact same radical as before. For those who got lost in my rambling and forgot what it means, it means 'day' or 'sun.' Let's put it all together!

We have sun + stand + sun = dark! Makes more sense, right?! Hahaha, actually it does. You see, the sun radical is off to the side, and there is nothing standing over the other sun. In other words, this kanji depicts a time when the sun has set (=the sun off to the side) and there is no sun standing in the sky (which is why 'stand' is on top of the 'sun' instead of the other way around.)... which is when it's dark! Yeah, I'm not even going to try to word that better.

Adventure time!

暗い [くらい] - dark.

暗黒 [アンコク] - The second part of this phrase is the kanji for the color black. So dark + black = DARK BLACK LOL--no, it actually just means... darkness.

明暗 [メイアン] - The first kanji means 'bright/brightness.' 明るい [あかるい] as opposed to 暗い. Bright + dark = light and dark, or contrast. 

暗殺 [アンサツ] - The second kanji means 'to kill.' If you kill in the darkness, you are an ASSASSIN. See, don't complain and say I don't include cool words. 

暗号 [アンゴー] - 号 means 'number,' and it's the same kanji that's in denwa bangou/'telephone number.' So writing numbers in the dark = code, password. You do things in secret to keep your enemies in the dark! LOL, I am the queen of lame puns. 

暗記する [アンキする] - I included this one for the irony. The second kanji is associated with 'history' or keeping 'records.' Dark + record = to memorize, because that's what happens whenever I try to memorize something. It never works and all the things I try to memorize just disappear into the dark recess of my mind, never to be found again. My mind is a black hole of complete and utter nothing. 

暗い気持になる [くらいきもちになる] - And an easy one to end this. Dark + feeling + the verb 'to become' = to feel gloomy. 

*Don't confuse it for this radical: 曰. This one means 'say.' They are quite similar, but NOT the same.

圧

pressure, push, overwhelm, oppress, dominate

strokes: 5

on'yomi: アツ、エン、オウ

kun'yomi: おす、へす、おさえる

Composed of two radicals. Boring!

The first is 厂 or がんだれ, which is the 'cliff' radical. This radical occupies the upper area of the kanji and continues down to the left side. Generally, radicals like this are called 垂 [たれ]. While this radical means cliff, its name is taken from 雁 [がん], which means 'wild goose'--or 'the cry of wild geese.' I've no idea why. Maybe geese fly from cliffs! Or maybe they go up there and cry when they're lonely! 

The second is 土 [つち]*, which means 'earth.' Usually called つちへん (remember 偏? Left-sided radical?) because you see it in this form a lot: 圤. Note that I'm only talking about the left side of that example. The weird stick figure thingy with only one arm, no head, and no legs doesn't count. However, in this case, I think 土 acts as an 脚 [あし] radical--remember that, too? The bottom part! 

So... we have cliff--or geese, lol--and earth! The pressure of the earth forces a cliff to rise from it!!! Yeah, science man! Tectonic plates and shit. Heh, and they said I never learned anything in any of my science classes. Well, I sure showed them.

  Anyway, think of what an overwhelming pressure the earth has on everything.

Ready for some adventures! No? Too bad!

気圧 [キアツ] - atmosphere + pressure = air pressure. Easy. 

血圧 [ケツアツ] - blood + pressure = nosebleed! No... it's actually just 'blood pressure.'

圧力 [アツリョク] - But y'know, just one kanji will not give you the word 'pressure.' You need to add another kanji! You can't pressure someone without a big guy looming behind you to make you seem more intimidating. This guy will be called 'power' or 'force.' You might even know him from Naruto. Chakra or whatever. No, noobs, it's called CHIKARA. Pressure + force = ... pressure. 

圧勝 [アッショー] - the second kanji here means 'to win.' It's also a counter for wins! Overwhelm + win = OVERWHELMING VICTORY BITCHES. 

圧倒する [アットウする] - the second kanji is also associated with 'overwhelm,' but it also means 'to fall.' (It's also the second kanji in mendou--like mendoukusai! One of my favorite phrases. What a pain! How troublesome!) It's not hard to understand why this verb means 'to overwhelm; to overpower.'

圧す [へす] - to dent; to press; to push. Now let's put that together with something!

圧し合う [へしあう] - to push + to meet/come together = to jostle; to push (someone down the fucking stairs, I'm assuming). Have you ever met someone and just had an overwhelming (hehe, get it /lame) urge to just... push them down (the stairs, a well, a cliff, into the fire, etc etc). Maybe that's just me because I'm a meanie :D Let's add more to that!

押し合い圧し合い [おしあいへしあい] - 押す also means 'to push.' This is usually the kanji you see on buttons. But really, they mean 'to press.' The key here is... we are going to push people... twice! Because it's twice the fun. After you push them down one flight of stairs..... Well. :> So... push + meet + push + meet = pushing and shoving! Jostling! Hustling! Fun, fun. 

*Don't go confusing that with this 士! Note the shorter line is on the bottom! This one means 'scholar' as opposed to 'earth.'

(This is how someone might write it...)

愛

love, affection, favorite

strokes: 13*

on'yomi: アイ**

kun'yomi: いとしい、めでる、おしむ、まな、かなしい***

I'm starting out with one everyone knows because I want to test how this'll go.

Essentially, this kanji is composed of four radicals. I'll break them down from top to bottom.

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爫 which is the radical form of the kanji 爪 [つめ]. This is called つめかんむり. つめ means 'claw' and かんむり means 'top radical.' Literal translation is more like 'cap' or 'crown.' Makes sense, right? The kanji for かんむり is 冠 for anyone who cares to know.

Next is 冖, which is also a かんむり. This one is derived from ワ, so it's called わかんむり. Also called ひらかんむり or べきかんむり. I don't think it really matters which term you use, but the first one makes the most sense for obvious reasons. Anyway, this radical means 'over' or 'covering.'

The third radical is 心 [こころ], or 'heart.' It's called an あし, or 脚 (foot/bottom) radical, but it can be located in the center (as in this case), or the top and bottom of a kanji. Does this mean the radical can travel anywhere? Probably. Another form of this radical is 忄. In that case, it's called りっしんべん and is a 偏 [へん]--a radical located on the left-hand side of the kanji. But whatever, that's not important here.

Lastly, we have 夂, which is called the winter radical. For those who don't know/can't remember, the kanji for winter looks like this: 冬. ...As you can see, it's on top of those two lines. But it's at the bottom for 愛. Why? I don't know. What type of radical does this make it? Uhhhh... yeah. Let's just move on. I think as long as we know it's a radical, that's good enough for now. This radical means 'go' in Chinese.

So let's put it all together and see what we have! Claw reaching in over the heart that wants to go out and seek love in the depths of winter?! Don't be crazy, you fool! You'll die!

Did that sentence make any sense at all? Perhaps! Cold hearts would probably like to seek love--or want someone to be seeking them idk. Cold people are lonely! People seeking love are vicious and have claws instead of hands!

I hope we have learned something today.

EDIT (02/05/11): I realized that I neglected to talk about the sound components of kanji. I don't know if it will help with *this* particular kanji, but here goes.

Recall the times when you found yourself staring at a kanji, cursing the world that there wasn't anyway for you to read it. Maybe you knew the meaning! But that didn't really help with how to read it, did it? And, you thought, there wasn't *any* way for you to *guess* at the kanji's reading. It wasn't like English, or French where you could just sound it out... Well, yeah, you can't read kanji like that. *But* there is a way for you to guess at the reading! Let me show you~

While a very small amount of kanji (about 10%) are pictograms, a lot of them are actually composed of a semantic ('meaning') radical and a phonetic ('sound') radical. Note that this is only useful for on'yomi. So for example: 愛 is composed of the phonetic 㤅 (basically the 爫+冖+心 part of the kanji) and the semantic 夂. 㤅 doesn't exist in the Japanese lexicon; it only exists in Chinese (archaic Chinese, I'm assuming, but I don't know for sure. I'll check with a Chinese speaker later). So in Chinese, 㤅 would be pronounced as something like アイ. And then comes the meaning part of the kanji, which is the random winter radical. But we already tried to make sense of it a few paragraphs ago, so I won't go over it. The important part here is the phonetic element! Because of the 㤅 [アイ] in 愛, the on'yomi is アイ! If you can recognize the phonetic element, you can read the kanji! :D Obviously, this doesn't apply to *all* kanji, but a large portion of kanji works like this. 

The end.

For those who feel adventurous:

愛しい [いとしい] - beloved; dear; darling; etc.,

愛でる [めでる] - to love; to admire 

愛弟子 [まなでし] -love + follower/student/pupil = favorite pupil. More commonly known as the teacher's pet. That would be me to my teachers/professors. I have no shame. 

愛娘 [まなむすめ] - love + daughter = one's beloved daughter. That would be me to my family. 

愛情 [アイジョー] - love; affection. 情 is a character associated with feelings/emotion.

愛人 [アイジン] - love + person = lover, duh. 

恋愛 [レンアイ] - love. The first character of this compound is 恋 [こい], which also means 'love.' You may recognize it from the familiar phrase 'koibito.' But we're using on'yomi, so instead of 'koi' it becomes 'ren.' Love + love = love. It's not rocket science! 

愛用する [アイヨーする] - to use habitually... because you love it so you use it. C: 

*If you want to see the stroke order, go to Jim Breen's Japanese dictionary site, search up the kanji, and click on SOD or SODA (stroke order diagram). Write it as many times as you can while listening to techno music. :|b Definitions I use in my posts will also be taken from there.

**In the case of 可愛い [かわいい], あい becomes わい. Why? Who the heck knows! Probably because of classical Japanese pronunciation.

***There's a lot more, but those aren't as important.

****Yeah, the font is wacky so it looks different than from what is shown in the kanji, BUT YOU GET THE PICTURE. Life's not perfect, so deal with it.