略語. Shortened forms of words or phrases.
Questions tagged [abbreviations]
67 questions
35
votes
2 answers
When Japanese say KY on the Internet, what does it mean exactly?
This comment can be seen very often on Japanese message boards.
Ken Li
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32
votes
4 answers
What are the origins of ヶ?
The ヶ in e.g. 一ヶ月 is a bit of an odd character - it looks a lot like a small version of the katakana ケ, but is it derived from that katakana originally? Or is it a normal kanji? Or is it something else entirely?
bdonlan
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31
votes
5 answers
What is the meaning of all those "w"s in email and SNSs?
You see a lot of w and ww and even www in Twitter and casual chat. What does it mean? I've always thought it was わいわい but never found out. How is it pronounced?
Here's an example from Twitter
なんでじゃろうねwwとりあえず電車なうだから間に合いそう笑
nevan king
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18
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2 answers
What is the significance of ココ and サ in emoji?
I am wondering what these emoji mean. Like, why would they create these ones specifically? I'm trying to think of a translation for ココ, but all I can think of is "cocoa" or a shortened long word, but that wouldn't make any sense.
Here are the emoji…
Kevin Evans
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16
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2 answers
What is the difference between 日曜日【にちようび】and 日曜【にちよう】?
In all the japanese learning books, they teach you that xxxday ends with 曜日.
But sometimes I get to see xxx曜 only without the "Day" Kanji.
Can I shorten it when speaking too or is it only written ? And when can I shorten it ?
Kalzem
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16
votes
1 answer
Temperature abbreviations?
A certain dialog in my book has a man describing the symptoms of his cold to the doctor. It reads thus:
医者：熱はありますか。
患者：はい、きのうから。夕べはぞくぞく寒気がしたので、高熱が出るんじゃないかとひやひやしたんですが、今のところ７度８分【なな・ど・はち・ぶ】くらいでおさまっています。
The English translation on the next page…
istrasci
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13
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2 answers
How do native speakers "read" single-kanji signs when those kanji are not also standalone words?
In my time in Japan I've noticed a few kanji that can be used on their own commonly in various kinds of signs, yet I don't think they are also words in their own right:
押
引
危
開
閉
Since all kanji have multiple readings, I keep wondering how native…
hippietrail
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10
votes
1 answer
Meaning of ちはース
Context: a boy shouts 「ちはース」 after seeing that a fan club for a boxer has only female members. He is happy to discover this since he is the kind of guy that always tries to flirt with pretty girls.
I understand that this is an exclamation expressing…
Marco
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9
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3 answers
Why does the word for "high school" use 校 instead of 学?
I'm learning Japanese on Duolingo and they're starting to teach me some vocabulary about schooling. Things like 大学, 中学, 小学, and... 高校?
I know that 学校 is the kanji spelling of "school," but why does "high school" use the 校 kanji, whereas all the…
matthew-e-brown
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9
votes
1 answer
Pronunciation of「ww」(笑い)
In Japanese internet slang, you see people use「ww」to mean something like "lol". I was curious how this would be pronounced if read aloud. In English, I hear people say either /ɛl oʊ ɛl/ or /lɑl/ for "lol". Is there a semi-standard way to pronounce…
Rose Kunkel
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8
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2 answers
Why does 'アプリストア’ mean appstore?
I initially expected 'appstore' to be アップストア
I don't see why it's translated as 'apuri-store'
phoenixWright
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8
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2 answers
How does one pronounce ≒ the symbol for "approximately"?
It appeared simply as "縮尺：≒1/82" and the meaning is quite clear (="approximately 1/82 scale").
Jim Breen's wwwjdic does not seem to contain an entry for the symbol.
jisho.org suggests only おおよそ 《大凡》but not the symbol itself.
Just randomly googling…
Ned Reif
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8
votes
2 answers
Is there a generally accepted "rule" for truncating loan words?
I've noticed that sometimes loan words (usually pairs) are truncated to just the first two morae from each word:
Smash Brothers ➤ スマッシュブラザーズ ➤ スマブラ
"Don't mind." ➤ ドンマイ
I assume this is done to shorten the writing and pronunciation. Is the…
user1316
8
votes
1 answer
Are there ways to write Japanese fast (like shortening the words)?
When the regular student is hearing a lecture he needs to write the lecturer's words very fast. So many of them are shortening the words (like smb.) and sentences but after the lecture they can still understand what they have written (usually).
Is…
optim1st
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7
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1 answer
Why is the affixal 子 treated specially when abbreviating people’s names?
Often, names are abbreviated using the initial letter in romanization, or some random letter, like "A". However, when the name has an affixal 子, that part is often left, like "A子". I have not seen any other character been treated like this. For…
user458