役 as a vocabulary item means “role”, and according to Jisho the kanji itself can also mean “role”. The user synonyms I have are from some old script that I think imported synonyms from Jisho. But WK doesn’t seem to accept it as an answer (I think it’s in the block list for some reason). Is there a r…

Oh, I didn’t know this was a thing. I’ll try to also keep track on what synonyms I’m adding going forward on my second run of WK. :eyes:

Thank you very much @TofuguNico ! [image] TofuguNico: This is part of an issue we are trying to fix where user synonyms clash with meanings we have added warnings on However, if I understand this correctly, wouldn’t that mean that the meaning “role” has a warning on? :thinking: Why should an…

[image] ResFort: However, if I understand this correctly, wouldn’t that mean that the meaning “role” has a warning on? Yes. The bug is that if a word is on the “warning” list, adding it as a user synonym will cause it to be marked as wrong instead. (I call it the “I was planning to give you a…

Kanji (vs. vocabulary) “meanings” are kinda ephemeral and weird. Not sure if “role” is worthy of a shake, but, for what it’s worth, to me it feels like the essence of the character is better captured by 役(やく)に立(た)つ than by the various 熟語(じゅくご) like 役目(やくめ) that use the character. There’s also the …

[image] ResFort: Why should answering “role” give a grey shake? Although the kanji 役 could be interpreted as “role,” we have implemented a warning specifically for that meaning in order to differentiate it from the vocabulary 役. We also in the process wanted to emphasize the meanings of “serv…

I think that makes a lot of sense. Considering 役 is more along the lines of “role in a professional setting” and not just any “role”. However, “role” as a word might also have too broad of a meaning in English :frowning: .

[image] WeebPotato: a word might also have too broad of a meaning in English Since starting WK, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve asked myself: “Wait. Which meaning of word do they mean?” I never realized before how imprecise English can be. I’ll never understand how linguists ever get …

[image] Rrwrex: I’ll never understand how linguists ever get anything done. The cynical answer is they don’t. The more charitable one is that they (at least the good ones) clearly define their terms before using them. It’s basically linguistics 101 that there is no single definition of “wor…

[image] Rrwrex: Kanji (vs. vocabulary) “meanings” are kinda ephemeral and weird. What do you mean by a meaning being ephemeral? Just my two cents to contribute to the discussion: I’m not a linguist and English is my second language, so who am I to say anything? lol :laughing: From the pers…

[image] ResFort: What do you mean by a meaning being ephemeral? I mean that the (vocabulary) word 役 as in 役に立つ has a definite meaning. Ascribing meaning to the kanji itself (the glyph), though, is a much slippier concept. The kanji can be used in many different compounds (熟語). Trying to asc…

役 doesn't mean "role"?

WaniKani Bugs & Errors

TofuguNico April 21, 2023, 3:17pm 21

Just a quick update to let you know that this issue should now be fixed with the latest changes we made to how user synonyms interact with our warnings.

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役 doesn't mean "role"?

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