Anyone have tips for differentiating these two? They have completely different meanings but when I see those Kanji I think “see” and “thing” but my issue is that 事 and 物 both mean “thing” so I’m not sure which “see thing” I’m supposed to think of
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This is one where knowing the usual reading of 事 is こと can probably help to map it to 見事。If you read some native content or play some games, 見事 is a common exclamation, which should help with the meaning - “sightseeing” is a really weird thing to say when appraising someone’s work.
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物 has the wing radical 勿. So 見物 is sightseeing because it’s easier if you have wings.
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It’s weird, I never had this issue even though I totally see how that could be a problem.
One thing that may or may not be helpful is that 事 is often a more abstract thing, while 物 is usually a concrete thing. An idea, feeling or opinion can be a 事 but I don’t think you would usually refer to them as 物.
With that in mind, 見物 is more concrete, it’s actually about seeing stuff. 見事 is more emotional in contrast.
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Also, more generally, this is one of these issues that’s mostly introduced by “artifical” SRS systems like WaniKani since they prompt you about words in a random order out of context.
In reality 見事 and 見物 will usually be almost impossible to mix up in context. They’re not even the same part of speech!
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Yeah, I agree. Like the SRS is great for helping remember things. But there’s so many pitfalls I can see happening if you don’t already have context for how words get used before learning how they’re written on here. Context sentences sometimes help with that, but often don’t.
Like if you’ve ever played the Street Fighter series, Ryu will say 見事だ！ when he’s defeated. Because he’s just an enthusiast for a good fight and thinks it’s genuinely well done when someone bests him. That’s one way to have some basic familiarity with the word ahead of time.
Timestamped link of a round loss for example:
It wouldn’t make much sense if he said 見物だ！
Unless it’s during the flashback in 6 where Chun Li takes him shopping at a tourist shop and buys him a tacky souvenir jacket or something.
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Thanks everyone, I was having the same trouble and reading this thread helped.