Japanese Language Stack Exchange
Japanese Language Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [vocabulary]

語彙. Single words or set phrases that must be learned in order to communicate.

The sum of the individual words or set phrases that a speaker knows is their entire "vocabulary". A "vocabulary word" or a "word in one's vocabulary" is a certain word that that person knows in a given language. When studying a foreign language, new vocabulary is often learned in lists arranged by topic or relative difficulty.

Questions with this tag should include questions about word definitions (such as comparing the meaning of certain words), and clarifying the specific usage of vocabulary words.

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How indistinguishable is blue from green really?

青 ao seems to be used very much interchangeably for both blue and green. Why is that so, and how does 緑 midori play into this?
deceze
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Are there words so bad that they aren't allowed on television?

Warning: We're all adults here, but just in case, this question may contain words, in both Japanese and English, that some may not like to read. A long time ago, when I was working with a translator, a native Japanese speaker, the term 気違い{きちがい}…
Questioner
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Use of 自分【じぶん】as a personal pronoun in direct speech

Yay, yet another first-person-pronoun question! I know that 自分 is commonly used as a personal pronoun in indirect speech, e.g.: マイクは、自分はなんと不注意なのだろうと言った。→ Mike said that he was very careless. スミスさんは自分はニューヨークの生まれだと言った。→ Mr Smith said, "I was born in…
Dave
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まち: what's the difference between 町 and 街?

My impression is that 町 tends to be used for smaller cities and 街 tends to be used for larger ones. Is this correct? If not, what is the difference?
Kef Schecter
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Words/characters for fast food meal sizes: 並, 大, 特

When dining at Yoshinoya I never know how to ask for the size meal I want. Their sizes are 並, 大, and 特. I only know that "大" means big, but it also has two readings so I have no idea whether to ask for "dai" or "ooki". And since the word/character I…
hippietrail
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What is the *proper* differentiation between 来る and 行く?

In many beginning Japanese classes, 来る【くる】 and 行く【いく】 are presented as "to come" and "to go," respectively. Dictionaries generally also define them this way. However, every once in a while in more advanced classes, teachers will mention that this is…
rintaun
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What's the difference between 成人 and 大人?

What's the difference between 成人 and 大人 ?
Pacerier
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加える/増やす and 加わる/増える or even 増加する/殖/足, various kanji for "adding things"

I'm a bit confused regarding the choice between the 加 and 増 kanji for any meaning related to "adding one thing to another". I assume that, as usual, the suru-verb combination 増加する is somewhat more formal than either of the other options. I was told…
jkerian
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What is the difference in meaning between "husband and wife" 夫婦【ふうふ】 and 夫妻【ふさい】?

I see that those two compounds mean husband and wife, as a married couple. But is there a difference in usage or context?
ogerard
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Are there any Japanese words as versatile as "fuck" in English?

I was wondering about this one recently. "Fuck" in English is famous for being applicable in a wide, wide range of circumstances (none of them formal). What word in Japanese covers a wide spectrum of possible meanings and uses like "fuck" does. Does…
crunchyt
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Historical differences between colors that are i-adjectives and those that are simply nouns

EDIT: Started a bounty with hope of getting more definitive and elaborate answers, e.g. timeline of when color names started being used in Japan. In Japanese language, there are colors that are i-adjectives: 青い, 赤い, 黒い, 白い etc. Then there are…
Lukman
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Nuances between the different kanji spellings of あける：明ける vs. 開ける vs. 空ける

開ける, 明ける and 空ける are all read as あける. From their kanji, it is obvious that 開ける has to do more with opening (a door etc), 明ける with dawning and 空ける with emptying... However, JMDict gives the exact same senses for all three of them (in fact, lists them…
Dave
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When is it appropriate to refer to yourself by これ?

I have occasionally heard and read instances, where a person has referred to themselves as これ. My Japanese dictionary also lists "Me, I." as a definition of これ. Now, this obviously isn't used as frequently as 私, 僕, etc., so it makes me wonder: When…
Miguel
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What does とな mean (and how do I use it)?

I came across this on Twitter, it seems to be mostly a question but sometimes an exclamation. Is it とは, or maybe とか? How do you use it? My dictionary has a とな as word that come at the end of a sentence to get confirmation. Is this the…
nevan king
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Fun with synonyms - "eternity"

What are the differences among the following two-kanji words that seem to mean "eternity": 永遠 {えいえん} 永久 {とわ} 永世 {えいせい} 永代 {えいたい} 永劫 {えいごう} 永永 {えいえい} 久遠 {きゅうえん} 悠久 {ゆうきゅう} 恒久 {こうきゅう} 恒常 {こうじょう} 長久 {ちょうきゅう} 無窮 {むきゅう} Please include any other related…
Lukman
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