The Missing Kanji

かき混ぜ規則 (kakimazekisoku: scrambling)

It always throws me off to see hiragana at the start of a compound, as if someone has presented things feet-first. Even though people generally write this kaki in hiragana, I’ve dug up its kanji: 掻. It usually means “to scratch, rake, paddle, cut off” but can also serve as an emphatic prefix, as I suppose it does in this case.

Here, then, is the full kanji effect:

掻き混ぜ規則 (kakimazekisoku: mixing up, stirring, churning)     emphatic prefix + to mix + rule + rule

Whew, that feels better!

It’s a funny kanji, 掻 is, with a hand radical () and an insect (虫) down below. Henshall doesn’t include it, so I’m afraid I can’t pass on his etymological insights.

Spahn, however, offers some great 掻 compounds:

掻き玉 (kakitama: egg drop soup)
     to cut off, emphatic prefix + round

While I’m thinking of the insect in the kanji, I feel a bit uncertain about eating this dish. And I’m more than uncertain about the breakdown. Halpern doesn’t cover 掻, so he’s of no help here.

掻き揚げ (kakiage: fritters)
     to cut off, emphatic prefix + to fry in deep fat

Hmm, same two problems—the presence of insects makes this unappetizing, and I can’t come up with a logical breakdown. The second kanji also appears in 空揚げ (kara-age: fried chicken pieces: empty + to fry in deep fat).

掻き切る (kakikiru: to cut off)     to cut off + to cut

Love all those Ks!

掻き口説く (kakikudoku: to complain of)
     to scratch + to give mouth to + to advocate

Here’s a near tongue-twister. It’s also a brain-twister, in that the root of the word has an altogether different meaning from the more embellished compound. If you just have 口説く (kudoku), it means “to persuade, coax, solicit” or even “to seduce, to make advances.” When it comes to 掻き口説く, it seems that 掻き doesn’t function as an emphatic prefix. Or maybe it does, but rather than simply intensifying 口説く, 掻き takes that compound off in a new direction. In my uncertainty, I have defined 掻き as “to scratch.” If you complain, you’re scratching at the status quo in a way, aren’t you?

One more thing of note. We often see 説 with the on-yomi SETSU. In 口説く and 掻き口説く, the kun-yomi of to(ku) shows up in the voiced form of do(ku). As to(ku) (or do(ku)), 説 means “to preach, advocate, persuade.”

雪掻き (yukikaki: snow shoveling, plowing)
     snow + to rake

足掻く (agaku: to paw the ground or air; to struggle)     foot + to scratch

Not sure how those two meanings go together, but I like the image of pawing the ground or especially the air!

And here’s the best of the lot:

隔靴掻痒 (kakka-sōyō: being frustrated because something is not quite as hoped (just as one can’t scratch an itch from outside a shoe); having an itch that one cannot scratch)     separated + shoe + to scratch + itchy

Note that 靴 is the way to write kutsu, “shoe.” Note also that 痒 gives us a sick sheep! That is, “sheep” (hitsuji) is 羊. Here, we see it inside the “sickness” radical . And the idea of a sick sheep brings to mind this tongue-twister: “the sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick.”

Oh my goodness, I just realized that I used 掻 in my first blog ever, one that focused on decapitation and included this term:

寝首を掻く (nekubi o kaku: to chop off someone’s head while he’s asleep)     to sleep + neck + to cut off

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