| Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary |
One of my favorite compounds is 月食 (gesshoku: lunar eclipse), which breaks down as moon + to eat. During a lunar eclipse, it looks as if something is eating the moon!
Given that, what do you think to eat + words means? Here’s the answer:
食言 (shokugen: to eat one’s words, break one’s promise)
to eat + words
Cute, isn’t it?! There’s a playful quality to many words with 言. So … let’s play!
Word Play
What sort of person “makes words”? A writer? A compiler of dictionaries?
作り言 (tsukurigoto: fabrication, lie, fiction) to make + words
Making words makes you a liar! The definition includes “fiction,” but the Japanese don’t have novelists in mind here. Click the link for a sample sentence containing 作り言.
For a Sample Sentence with 作り言 …
It’s important to have one’s say, and the following compound lets you do that:
言い立てる (iitateru: to state, to assert) to say + to stand
If you have your say while standing, you’re “taking a stand”! Nowadays, 言い立てる most commonly means “to criticize someone else” (i.e., in order to defend oneself). The expression also means “to spread rumors.”
One can reverse the compound and still have one’s say:
立言 (ritsugen: expression of one’s view) to stand + to say
But what might it mean to halve one’s say—that is, to divide it?
言い分 (iibun: one’s say, objection) to say + to divide
Trick question. Turns out to mean the same thing! Did you guess right? I mean, did you …
言い当てる (iiateru: to guess right) to say + to hit the mark
Well, there’s no shortage of opportunities to guess right or wrong when it comes to kanji. Here’s a new quiz: What might it mean if you have your say before a significant event even occurs?
The answer: It would make you a prophet! (No, not a profit. Sorry!) Check out these compounds:
予言 (yogen: prediction) in advance + words
予言者 (yogensha: prophet) in advance + words + person
Since these words are fairly logical, you can probably guess what it would mean to say something and to know it. That’s nothing special. It’s the way we should all function. And yet, what’s this?
言い知れない (iishirenai: indescribable) to say + to know
The combination of those verbs somehow results in “indescribable”!
OK, I hear your frustration. You want me to bring back the logic. I will. The next compound is perfectly logical and yet as cute as can be:
寝言 (negoto: talking in one’s sleep) to sleep + to say
Word Power
Most of these words about words are harmless enough. But words can easily serve as weapons; it is with words that we control and manipulate others. (At least, that’s how I like to mistreat people; maybe you prefer alternative methods!)
For Other Fighting Words We’ve Seen …
One great compound about verbal conflict does not feature our kanji of the month, 言:
舌戦 (zessen: war of words) tongue + war!
But many words about verbal conflicts do involve 言. Take, for example, these:
言い込める (iikomeru: to argue (someone) into silence)
to say + to concentrate onThere’s so much talking here that it results in silence!
言い伏せる (iifuseru: to argue down) to say + to lie upside down, to lie prostrate (that is, face down)
The second kanji, 伏, conveys a sense of submissiveness. So it would seem that while Person A is doing all the arguing (the 言い part of the compound), Person B is literally being “argued down” with 伏せる.
For a Further Note on 伏せる as
“To Lie Upside Down” …
言い詰める (iitsumeru: to argue someone into a corner)
to say + to cram in
These English translations contain a great deal of directionality. In the compound 言い込める, we find 込, which can mean “to drive inward.” Then there’s 言い伏せる, “to argue down.” Finally, 言い詰める has us arguing someone into a corner! I suppose when words fly, they have to go somewhere, even if it’s in one ear and out the other.
Other 言 compounds hint at controlling behavior, as with this pair:
言い聞かせる (iikikaseru: to tell someone to do something)
to say + to ask
言い成り (iinari: doing whatever someone says)
to say + to be accomplished
The second compound tempts me to form a sentence with iinari and inari (fried tofu):
彼の言い成りになっていなりを食べました。
Kare no iinari ni natte inari o tabemashita.
I let him persuade me to eat inari.
For a Breakdown of the Kanji …
The next word would seem to be the ultimate in controlling behavior:
強言 (shiigoto: talking even though no one wants to listen)
to force + words
If you talk even though no one wants to listen, does that really mean you’re in control? Or are you simply pathetic? It’s hard to know who has the power in a situation implied by 強言, but since this 強 means “to force,” I think the speaker has the power, no matter how foolish he or she may seem to others.
Again, I can’t resist making a sentence combining shiigoto and shigoto:
彼女は聞きたくないのに、彼は自分の仕事の話を
強言しました。
Kanojo wa kikitakunai no ni, kare wa jibun no shigoto no hanashi o shiigoto shimashita.
He forced her to listen to him talk about work, even though she didn’t want to listen.
For a Breakdown of the Kanji …
Well, I’ve “forced” you to listen to me for long enough! Time for your daily Verbal Logic Quiz!
