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In my first blog for JapanesePod101.com, I sought compounds with a neat repetition of shapes, such as 宝玉 (hōgyoku: jewel, gem, treasure + jewel).
Soon afterward, I found repeating shapes inside 読売 (to read + to sell), which says Yomiuri, as in the prominent newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun. As Yomiuri isn’t a real word, I can’t help wondering if the founders coined 読売 partly for its visual appeal.
Repeated shapes within a compound can be visually arresting. Just look at all these words containing two or more instances of 力 (RYOKU, chikara: power):
| 助力 (joryoku: help, assistance) | help + power |
| 努力 (doryoku: effort) | toil + power | 労力 (rōryoku: trouble, effort) | labor + power | 効力 (kōryoku: effectiveness) | effect + power | 協力 (kyōryoku: cooperation) | cooperation + power | 動力 (dōryoku: power) | to move + power |
Compounds with repeating shapes can also be dizzying, particularly when viewed in a clump, as with this cluster of suns and moons:
| 日照 (nisshō: sunshine, drought) | sun + to shine |
| 日曜日 (nichiyōbi: Sunday) | sun + weekday + sun |
| 昨日 (kinō: yesterday) | yesterday + day |
| 明日 (ashita: tomorrow) | bright, light + day |
| 月明 (getsumei: moonlight) | moon + light |
| 明月 (meigetsu: bright or full moon) |
light + moon |
Collectively, such words turn into the visual equivalent of a tongue twister!
In which other compounds does one kanji contain the other? Once I began pondering this question, there was no stopping me. I pored over my dictionary, compiling a list of compounds that fit the bill. Although some jumped off the page, seeming to be appropriate, closer scrutiny revealed that they didn’t make the cut.
As my quest for repeating compounds took hold, visions danced in my head. Could 九丸 be a word? Read as kyūmaru, it could mean “nine circles.” Or, since 丸 can be a suffix for ship names, 第九丸 (daikyūmaru) might mean “Ship #9” (in which the # comes from the ordinal number prefix 第). I’ve devised a list of repeating compounds for the number kanji 1–9 and have tucked this wish list away, in case it upsets you to see imaginary compounds (though some turned out to exist!).
Fortunately, I was able to locate repeating shapes inside some truly legitimate number compounds:
1. 一 (ICHI, hito(tsu): one)
Not surprisingly, the character for “one” is the easiest kanji to find inside others! I limited myself to characters with unattached horizontal strokes. Here’s a sampling:
| 一命 (ichimei: a life) | one + life |
| 一戸 (ikko: one house; household) | one + door, counter for houses |
| 一元 (ichigen: unitary) | one + beginning, origin |
| 一行 (ichigyō: line, row, troupe, party) |
one + line (of text) |
| 一宗 (isshū: sect; denomination) | one + religion |
| 一旦 (ittan: once; for a moment; one morning; temporarily |
one + morning, daybreak |
2. 二 (NI, futa(tsu): two)
| 二三 (nisan: two or three) | two + three |
| 二言 (futakoto: two words; nigon: double-dealing) |
two + word |
Here’s a very cool word that builds on this last compound:
二言目 (futakotome: second word; a topic to which one’s talk constantly turns) two + word + suffix for ordinals
3. 三 (SAN, mit(tsu): three)
| 三国 (sangoku: three countries) |
three + country |
What three countries would these be?! |
| 三世 (sansei: third- generation immigrant of Japanese descent) |
three + generation |
Also the name of a great restaurant in Hawaii! |
| 三毛猫 (mikeneko: cat that’s white, black, and brown!) |
three + fur + cat |
How great is this compound for the Neapolitan ice cream of cats?! |
8. 八 (HACHI, yat(tsu): eight)
| 八分 (happun: eight minutes) |
eight + minutes | Not a perfect match, but close! |
10. 十 (JŪ, tō: ten)
| 十時 (jūji: ten o’clock) | ten + hours |
| 十干 (jikkan: the “10 stems” in an ancient cyclic Chinese number system) |
ten + dry |
In the spirit of summer, I’m offering a bevy of Verbal Logic Quizzes today, all featuring compounds with repeating shapes. Also in the spirit of summer, I’m taking a vacation! As this blog goes live, I’ll be winging off to Europe. Well, that’s one way to put it. Another is that I’ll be a sardine in coach class for half a day!
I’ll be offline all week and unable to answer comments immediately. But I encourage you to leave some anyway, perhaps with suggestions of compounds in which one character is tucked neatly inside the other.
Happy summer! Let the games begin!
