記号. Typographic symbols in Japanese writing such as ×, ﹅, ・, ※, etc., that are neither kana, kanji, nor punctuation.
See also
- 約物 on Japanese Wikipedia
Questions tagged [symbols]
57 questions
46
votes
4 answers
What do the shapes △ ◯ ╳ ◻ mean in Japanese? And are there variations in meaning, depending on whether or not the shape is filled?
I am interested in Japanese culture and the symbolism used in Japan, specifically I'd like to know what the △ triangle, ◯ circle, ╳ cross and ◻ square mean to a Japanese person.
How are those shapes interpreted and do they vary depending on there…
user17531
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3 answers
My teacher wrote a triangle on my Japanese homework. What does it mean?
One of my Japanese senseis corrected my homework, and several times she drew a triangle next to the item she was correcting. Does this have a special meaning in Japan?
Lou
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30
votes
1 answer
Why are points used where furigana would be normally?
Sometimes in mangas there are points where you would expect normally furigana. What meaning is it supposed to have?
olorin
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21
votes
1 answer
What does it mean when multiple 々 marks follow a 、?
I was glancing at some old manuscripts from the Heian period (左経記 pg. 10) when I saw the following:
I know that typically 々 means to repeat the previous kanji, but what does it mean when its following a 、? Also, is there a reason there are so many…
Ringil
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How to read: the "~" (tilde) in "3~4 行"
How should I read the "~" mark that stands for range, as described in the title?
I saw this in the following sentence:
3~4行ごとに1行あけると読みやすい。
Eric
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17
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1 answer
What is the meaning of 金〇
I wanted to ask what the '◯' symbol underneath the 金 means below? It seems the black-haired guy is asking the other guy something that's to do with drinking?
Polina Korneeva
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15
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Some Japanese dictionaries (e.g. 大辞林, 大辞泉, and 明鏡国語辞典) use this inverted triangle outline symbol (▽) for some kanji compounds. What does it mean?
It doesn't apply to all the words, just some. Here are examples of words from that are marked with that symbol
悪い (with reading にくい): 大辞泉; 大辞林
面倒くさい (with reading めんどくさい): 大辞泉; 大辞林
皆 (with reading みんな): 大辞泉; 大辞林
判る・解る (with reading わかる):…
3 to 5 business days
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14
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Usage of Encircled Kanji
There appear to be some kanji and other characters such as ①, ②, ③, Ⓐ, ㊄, ㊗, ㊛, ㊑, and many more, which are enclosed in circles.
These characters are listed in unicode and there are quite a lot of them, with various seemingly unrelated kanji, as…
M Palmer
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14
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3 answers
How do I read 100°C in Japanese?
In English, I just read it "one hundred degrees Celsius".
In Japanese, I don't know how to read it.
user9296
12
votes
1 answer
What does 「／＼」 mean in this sentence?
皆さん、こんにちは！
Now, I've been reading 竹取物語 and have come across (another) set of symbols that I've yet to understand. Given the following sentence.
かくて翁やう／＼豐になり行く。
What does the sudden 「／＼」 mean?
Tirous
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12
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2 answers
How to pronounce "R → ∞ " in a mathematical context
For example on this wikipedia page:
一方、右辺第二項は R → ∞ のとき 0 に収束するので、...
In English it would be something like "as R goes to infinity".
How would you usually read this in Japanese?
mihi
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9
votes
1 answer
Circle inside a circle character. What is it?
So I started playing Steins;Gate in Japanese the other day. And in one of the Tips about a character from the 雷ネット翔 , キラリちゃん is described as
頭が良くて、スポーツ万能。しかもカワイくて性格も〇
(But inside of 〇 is another circle...)
I don't know how to pronounce it and…
SkillGG
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Can 々 stand for a duplicated kanji with a different reading?
The title may not be so clear, here is what I mean:
々 is used to avoid repeating a kanji. In some cases, the two may not be pronounced the same because the first consonant of the second kanji is voiced (e.g. [時]{とき}[々]{どき}), but they still have the…
Mathieu Bouville
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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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What do these symbols in manga mean?
In the manga Shinya no Dame Koizukan (深夜のダメ恋図鑑), I spotted four different symbols (marked in red in the picture). The Ψ symbol is even repeated a few times, but I can't figure out what it means.
I've tried searching up Japanese symbols and have gone…
karin
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