More on 染

The kanji 染 has also acquired the following meanings:

• to be infected, contract (a disease)

伝染病 (densenbyō: contagious disease; epidemic)
     to transmit + to contract + disease

感染 (kansen: infection)     to contract + to contract

This word looks like it would be about feelings (感)—maybe feeling that someone has contaminated a relationship with bad behavior. But it’s about infections of the body. In addition to describing matters of the heart (such as having deep feelings or being moved), 感 can mean “to be affected, be influenced, by struck by, contract,” and that’s its meaning in 感染, says Halpern.

• to contaminate

汚染 (osen: pollution, contamination)     dirty + to contaminate

Look at all the water () in this word!

• to have a touch of, to look like (with the verbal suffix -染みる, -jimiru):

気違い染みている (kichigaijimite iru: to have a touch of insanity,
     be slightly crazy)     mind + different + to have a touch of

子供染みた (kodomojimita: childish)
     child + plural suffix + to have a touch of

This refers to an adult’s childish behavior, not to age-appropriate behavior by a five-year-old.

芝居染みていた (shibaijimite ita: theatrical)
     lawn + sitting + to have a touch of

This word does not refer to Noh plays and the like. Rather, it’s an extremely negative word pertaining to overly dramatic people—drama queens and kings. By the way, the breakdown seems strange, right? Well, 芝居 means “play, drama.” I can only guess that plays were originally performed out on the lawn!

In the past, we saw 浸. Like 染, this kanji can have the yomi of shi(miru), turning into the kanji-less suffix -じ(みて), -ji(mite). This suffix means “tainted (with a quality), tinged (with).” And as we learned, that yielded another way of arriving at the word for “childish”:

子供じみた (kodomojimita: childish)     child + plural suffix

Other Words for “To Be Tinged” …

Just to bring things full circle, here’s a word in which 浸 and 染 team up:

浸染 (shinsen: dyeing)     to soak + to dye

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