Add etymological explanation of the exceptional reading of 一日 as first day

一日 as first day is read ついたち because as the first day of the month, it is also 月立ち (つきたち), and the き becomes い for convenience. Maybe this explanation can be attached to the current mnemonic, since by chance 月 and 立 are introduced not far from when 一日 is introduced. A caveat is they are introduced as Kanji, therefore at the point of 一日, 月 is still げつ and 立 is still りつ, as opposed to つき and たち.

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Great, now do すっぱ抜き.

I happened across this today whilst looking up grammar, it’s talks about kanji and how they are read and uses 日 as a main example so you might find it useful (don’t let it confuse you though it is quite detailed)

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Mnemonic wise すっぱ being close to “spy” is pretty convenient. I haven’t unlocked it yet so I don’t know the current mnemonic though.

So did you just want this as an interesting fact, or did you think they should change the order for the content? Making a mnemonic out of readings that haven’t been taught yet seems counterproductive.

That’s pretty nice! Might actually send that to ppl that have asked me why reading Japanese is so hard.

Thanks for sharing.

Btw I love penguins. I hope that the sunshine aquarium was the inspiration for your name. See: http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201707160004.html

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A suggestion that WK should include some information on etymology when it could be relevant maybe?

Personally, it’s something I’ve wished for at times. I like to see the logic behind words and kanji. If WK teaches a word that “totally doesn’t make sense” from our perspective (very different reading or a word composed of kanji that you can’t connect to the word meaning, etc), it could include a short explanation in the lesson on why it is that way. It would help me remember the word better if I knew the background to it being that way (like OP’s example, I totally didn’t know that and now I’m going to remember it better).

One example of something that threw me is the word 皮肉 - what the hell does that have to do with sarcasm? But google told me the reason. Could’ve been cool if WK said “hey, there’s a reason behind this, it has to do with this historical saying”.

Obviously this isn’t an etymology site and I’m not suggesting they include explanations for every word. But imo a short explanation of the reason behind particularly strange readings/meanings could be very helpful.

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That’s okay! I thought it was an interesting read :blush:

And unfortunately it wasn’t it’s a username I’ve taken with me from my childhood, but that aquarium looks amazing! It’s going on the bucket list! :grin:

Having more information on etymology would be nice, but also a huge amount of work that could be spent elsewhere. Just coming up with an explanation 皮肉 that is not contested right away in the forums by the fussy fault-finders that tend to use WK will take some time, and multiply that by 1000.

I found out recently that for many words they exchanged kanji in compounds with similar reading during various reforms, although the results make no sense. (lots of example words here: http://www.imabi.net/kakikae.htm)

For example 註文 turned into 注文 (pouring writing?). Is that an interesting fact? Sure. Does it help to remember it? Maybe, but it is not really the main point, and oftentimes just obscure trivia.

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No one is asking for adding etymology for all contents on WK. It can be case by case as we users discover the ones which help memorization, and I agree with you that contested ones surely should stay out of WK.

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Well like @gutaisuru said, it’s not like a complete overhaul is being requested. It may not be the most vital of changes, but I still think it’s worthwhile. On a case-by-case basis. After all, every vocab has a meaning explanation and a reading explanation - sometimes it could be useful to include in it a short note on the etymology. In some cases that could be more useful than a mnemonic (at least to me). At least it stops you from going “why the heck is that the reading, that makes no sense!” and getting frustrated.

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