円いと丸い! round and round!

[bossyralph]

こんにちわ、

’丸い’と’円い’違ちがいは何ですか？

Hi all, I’m on level 3 and have come across 円い and 丸い which both appear to mean the same, and are read the same. I’m just wondering, is there is a particular context in which you prefer to use one over the other? Or is there a subtle difference in meaning?

どうもありがとう。

[Leebo]

この定義ていぎを読よんだら、分わかると思おもいます。

[bossyralph]

Now that looks like a very useful website!!

[mamimumason]

Hi ＼(^o^)／

丸い is used both circles and spheres/globes, whereas 円い is used only for circles.

That said, when you say まるい, you should almost always go with 丸い. It’s way more common than the 円い writing. (We still teach that 円い is まるい so that you’ll know the reading if you happen to encounter it.)

When referring to a circle, both 丸まる and 円えん are common. In this usage, 丸 sounds a bit casual and 円 sounds more formal.

丸まる can also work as a prefix and mean “full” or “whole.” Here are a few examples for this usage:

丸3日間: for three full [a full three, fully three] days
丸一年: a full [a whole, a good, a solid] year
丸ぼうず: a close-cropped/a close-shaven head (fully cropped/shaved head)

Because of this meaning, there is a vocab such as 丸々まるまる.

かれは大きなおにぎりを丸々まるまる 口に入れた。
He put the whole big onigiri into his mouth.

Hope this helps!

[mamimumason]

Ah yes I meant to say prefix! I’ll fix that now. Thank you for spotting!