CT92 - 魂
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
100 million.
Chinese yì, Japanese おく, Korean 억.
Ohhhh, Japanese and Korean are almost the same.
CT90 - 釣
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
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.
CT88 - 英
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
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
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
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.
CT84 - 泊
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
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.
