Difference between 矛 and 予

[plantron]

I’m currently playing Grand Theft Auto: Bronze Age

[CyrusS]

@Belthazar

Not precisely. They’re both polearms, yes, but there’s a difference.

Correct. This was something that Kristen and I talked about a little while back (after someone brought it up in an email). While halberds and spears are similar, they’re not the same weapon. The 矛 (you might also see it called a Hoko yari) lacked the axe blade and back hook that characterizes a halberd, so we removed that meaning and made it just “spear.”

As for why it still pulls it up in a search, I’m afraid Kristen will have to tell you if that was intentional or not.

EDIT: It was something that only history buffs and weapon nerds were probably going to notice, but since I am one of those, I pushed for making the change.

You could make a case that yari should include “halberd” as a meaning, since there were a variety of different kinds of them. The 月形槍 (tsuki nari yari) for instance is still not quite a halberd, but is also not a traditional spear. We don’t have 槍 in WaniKani, though, so it was a moot point.

[seanblue]

@CyrusS

We don’t have 槍 in WaniKani, though, so it was a moot point.

I heard a rumor that more kanji are getting added though.

[anon20839864]

@CyrusS

As for why it still pulls it up in a search, I’m afraid Kristen will have to tell you if that was intentional or not.

“Halberd” was the only meaning and removing it completely would make everyone who learned it already wrong in their next review, which isn’t very nice. I moved it to the whitelist so that those people wouldn’t be marked wrong.

I think Viet and Darin made the whitelist searchable at some point, which is why it appears when you search now. I thought it was only for the old radicals, but it looks like it might be for everything “hidden” or otherwise.

[plantron]

I knew it! Those crazy Swiss Guards are trying to deceive us by naming their spears “halberds”.