devoted monkey

Photo

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 11:56:00 -0400

CT92 - 魂

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 11:55:00 -0400

Soul, spirit.

Single most important compound: 靈魂(영혼, línghún) soul, spirit.

Koreans call this character 넋 혼, 넋 being the native Korean word for soul.

In Japanese, 魂 by itself is read たましい and also means soul or spirit. The on reading is こん.

CT91 - 億

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 11:55:08 -0400

100 million.

Chinese yì, Japanese おく, Korean 억.

Ohhhh, Japanese and Korean are almost the same.

CT90 - 釣

Sun, 10 Jun 2012 12:01:24 -0400

To fish.

In Chinese: 釣魚(diàoyú). Literally, “to fish fish”. Redundant? Yes, Chinese likes verbs which supply their own subject. Like 跳舞(tiàowǔ), “to dance a dance”.

In Japanese, 釣る(つる). 釣り(つり), besides meaning fishing, also means change (the money you are given in return after a purchase).

In Korean, to fish is 낚다, no Chinese character here. So let’s learn this compound: 조구(釣具) fishing tackle.

宝釣（たからつり）: treasure fishing.

釣り切れ（つりぎれ）: out of change.

CT89 - 懇

Sat, 09 Jun 2012 11:57:39 -0400

If words really sound like the concept they represent, then I like the kind of sincerity and earnestness that is conveyed by the forceful sound of 懇(kěn) in Chinese, which I relate unconsciously to 啃(also pronounced kěn), whose meaning (to gnaw, to nibble) I find strangely similar

The Japanese pronounciation こん loses the aspirated sound, while the Korean one 간 preserves it as long as 懇 appears as the first character of the compound, which is usually the case.

誠懇(chéngkěn): sincere, honest, cordial.
勤懇(qínkěn): diligent and attentive, assiduous, sincere.
懇切(こんせつ, 간절, kěnqiè): earnest, sincere.

英 as in 황미영(黄美英), this girl.

Fri, 08 Jun 2012 12:01:01 -0400

英 as in 황미영(黄美英), this girl.

英 as in the Hanja of 최수영(崔秀英), this girl.

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 11:54:52 -0400

英 as in the Hanja of 최수영(崔秀英), this girl.

CT88 - 英

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 12:01:25 -0400

Brave, excelent.

英 is also the character that represents England. Not because the Chinese think the English are brave, but because of its pronounciation yīng (in Chinese), which is えい in Japanese and 영 in Korean.

England in Chinese is 英國(Yīngguó), abbreviation of 英格蘭(Yīnggélán). The Korean say 잉글랜드, the Japanese say イングランド.

English is 英語(えいご, 영어, Yīngyǔ).

Hero is 英雄(えいゆう, 영웅, yīngxióng). 張藝謀(Zhāng Yìmóu)’s movie Hero is originally titled 英雄, indeed.

CT87 - 蚕・蠶

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 12:00:02 -0400

This beauty:

A silkworm.

누에 in Korean, 蠶(cán) in Chinese, 蚕(かいこ) in Japanese.

蚕糸・蠶絲(さんし, 잠사, cánsī) is silk.

CT86 - 傑

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 12:01:46 -0400

Hero, outstanding person. Prominent, distinguished.

As in 傑作(けっさく, jiézuò, 걸작) masterpiece.

Or in 傑出(けっしゅつ, 걸출, jiéchū) outstanding, distinguished.

This is pretty much all that you have to learn about this character.

Oh well, they also use it to transcribe names in Chinese, such as 傑克(Jiékè) Jack, 傑西卡(Jiéxīkǎ) Jessica and 羅傑(Luójié) Roger.

Michael Jackson would be 邁克爾・傑克遜(Màikè’ěr · Jiékèxùn).

Roger Federer is 羅傑·費德勒.

And Jet Li is 李連傑(Lǐ Liánjié).

CT85 - 飽

Sun, 03 Jun 2012 11:59:58 -0400

To be full, satiated, satisfied, bored.

In Chinese: 吃飽了嗎？(chībǎolema) Are you full? (after eating).

In Japanese: 飽きる(あきる) to lose interest.

In CJK: 飽和(ほうわ, 포화, bǎohé): saturation.

What do you hide?

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 11:57:00 -0400

What do you hide?

CT84 - 泊

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 12:01:35 -0400

泊(はく, 박, bó) to moor, to anchor, to touch up; to stay at night.

As in the Japanese verb 泊まる(とまる) to stay at (a hotel), or its transitive counterpart 泊める(とめる) to give shelter, to lodge.

As in the name of that Korean variety show 1박 2일, “1 night 2 days”. The show is about trips that last 1 night and two days.

CT83 - 長

Thu, 31 May 2012 12:01:44 -0400

長 is an important character.

長 has two meanings. One is long or length, and as an extension, to grow, to increase. The other meaning is chief or leader.

In Chinese, 長 is read cháng when it means long, but zhǎng when it means to grow or leader. Confusing, right?

長い(ながい) is the most common way of saying long in Japanese. That would be 길다 in Korean, and 長(cháng) in Chinese.

成長(せいちょう, 성장, chéngzhǎng) means growth, to mature, to grow.

Now, let’s examine 長 in its meaning of leader:

医長(いちょう): medical director.
課長(かちょう, 과장): section manager, head of a department.
機長(きちょう, jīzhǎng): pilot.
市長(しちょう, 시장, shìzhǎng): mayor.
社長(しゃちょう, 사장, shèzhǎng): company president.
隊長(たいちょう, 대장, duìzhǎng): commanding officer.
班長(はんちょう, 반장, bānzhǎng): squad leader, team leader.
校長(こうちょう, 교장, xiàozhǎng): principal, headmaster.

CT82 - 称・稱

Wed, 30 May 2012 11:42:00 -0400

Name, designation. Like 名, but with a slightly formal and conceptual flavor.

This compound is fairly common and important: 称賛・稱讚(しょうさん, 칭찬, chēngzàn) praise.

名稱(めいしょう, 명칭, míngchēng) means name, title, designation.

称号・稱號(しょうごう, 칭호, chēnghào) is name, title, term of address, degree.

So, that’s it? This is the character, these are some compounds, it is an important character, now learn it. That’s it?

Yes, that’s it. I don’t have anything remarkable to say about this character, but it is important, so learn it.

I don’t have images. I don’t have any pop references. I don’t remember any songs. I’ve probably seen this character more in the paper than on TV. But I’ve heard it on TV, since it’s used in the word for praise, which is fairly common.

I think I saw 칭찬 in a heavily captioned scene in a Korean variety show. I’ll post it if I ever find it.

CT81 - 純

Tue, 29 May 2012 11:59:48 -0400

Pure, genuine. Also innocent, naive.

単純(たんじゅん, 단순, dānchún) means simple, plain, pure, naive.

It’s how you call people when they don’t know a lot about life but you still find them cute.

CT80 - 滴

Mon, 28 May 2012 11:59:35 -0400

滴 in Japanese is read しずく and it means drop (of water).

In Korean, drop of water is 물방울. 滴 is read 적, but this is not important.

Drop of water in Chinese is 水滴(shuǐdī). 滴(dī) used as a verb means to drip.

The Japanese pronounce 水滴 as すいてき. Reminds me of the word すてき.

Photo

Sun, 27 May 2012 12:01:30 -0400

CT79 - 借

Sat, 26 May 2012 11:54:00 -0400

借(jiè) in Chinese is to borrow, or to lend.

Example from Chinese: A Comprehensive Grammar by Yip Po-Ching and Don Rimmington:

他借了我兩鎊錢(tā jiè le wǒ liǎng bàng qián): He borrowed two pounds from me.
他借給我兩鎊錢(tā jiè gěi wǒ liǎng bàng qián): He lent me two pounds.

In Japanese, 借りる(かりる) means to borrow or to rent.

To borrow in Korean: 빌리다.

借口(jièkǒu) is a pretext.

CT78 - 福

Fri, 25 May 2012 11:59:11 -0400

福 as in 福島(ふくしま) Fukushima, name of a city, a prefecture and the infamous power plant that was severely damaged after the 2011 Japan earthquake.

Let Fukushima live up to its name despite the present adversity. Fukushima means Island of Good Fortune. 福 means good fortune, happiness, luck.

Fukushima isn’t an island, so at least they should be happy.

幸福(こうふく, 행복, xìngfú) means happiness. 고마워 사랑해 행복만 줄게요…

祝福(しゅくふく, 축복, zhùfú) is blessing.

The usual Korean greeting for New Year goes: 새해 복 많이 받으세요. The following picture provides a better illustration:

The Chinese have the habit of hanging 福 upside-down for New Year: