Funny meanings

Japanese Language
1

Sometimes the kanji that make up a word have funny meanings and tell a surprising little story about how Japanese people think (or used to think).

For example, today I learned that the kanji for the word “Joke” 冗談 are Superflous (冗) + Conversation (談). After all, samurai were not famous for their sense of humor! :grin:

Feel free to share the ones you like.

7 Likes
2

I’ve done all the lessons on Wanikani and by far my favorite one is 痴漢 (molester). Why? Because by Wanikani definitions, it’s stupid (痴) + Chinese (漢) :rofl:

I do apologize if I sound racist. It is not my intention at all. I was just really not expecting it… :joy:

10 Likes
3

It’s just that 漢 also means “man.”

Meaning #3
http://www.kanjipedia.jp/kanji/0001100400

I’m not sure if that was just Chinese people being sexist or what.

7 Likes
4

Ahah, don’t worry, we are not politically correct here. And China tried to invade Japan in ancient times. Maybe in China the word is 痴和 instead! :rofl:

3 Likes
5

金玉 Gold Balls for Testicles is also a good one.

14 Likes
6

Well this isn’t particularly a word that made me laugh but i’m using the amusement part of the meaning of “fun”

極 extreme 楽 comfort… = 極楽 paradise

…
other logical ones…

絶望 extinction + hope = despair
面積 surface + accumulate = area
体積 body + accumulate = volume

5 Likes
7

My favorite is:

鼻歌 nose + song = humming

12 Likes
8

And at the risk of sounding totally immature, one of mine is
鼻くそ nose + excrement = snot
(Maybe it’s funnier when you know the word くそ first)

8 Likes
9

This one really took me by surprise 姦.

6 Likes
10

The last one that strucked me was 自慰 = self + consolation. I’ll let you guess the meaning.

1 Like
11

My mind was blown by emoji 絵文字 yesterday

5 Likes
12

勘 (intuition) + 当 (correct) = 勘当 (disown)

2 Likes
13

I know part of the purpose of this topic is to be funny, so I should probably stop interjecting, but 勘 doesn’t mean “intuition” in that word (which you can probably guess from the fact that it sounds funny if you think of it that way).

3 Likes
14

Racism is racism, intentional or not. I don’t think it’s good to write off the subject under the vaguer term of political correctness, as if that excuses it. Not that I’m trying to blame JP but - and sorry if I am misinterpreting - your reply comes off to me as suggesting we should accept the racism as it is.

I too raised an eyebrow when I came across that mnemonic and ordinarily, if the word had some actual racially-charged origin, I wouldn’t mind the history lesson, but now that I know ‘man’ is an alternate meaning, I find the accidental racism all the more unfortunate and wish it could be changed.

8 Likes
15

The ones I like best are the ones where I can imagine someone not knowing the English word and just making something up. 足首 (foot-neck), for example.

Oh, and I like the double-layered humor in 親子丼 Oyakodon
The first layer for the Chicken/Egg dish (parent/child)
Then the second layer for the slang term (you can look it up on Jisho, I won’t write it again), parent/child dish

And they say Japanese don’t like sarcasm.

4 Likes
16

青葉 = blue leaf = fresh leaves = total sense.

1 Like
17

It’s surprising to me that WK hasn’t added green as a synonym to 青.

5 Likes
18

I remember taking Spanish in high school and one the few things I remember is “to bother” which is molestar. The whole class laughed at it, basically caused it sounds like molester.

1 Like
19

There used to be a Chinese restaurant in west L.A. with the name 金玉食堂. It doesn’t have the same implications in Chinese.

3 Likes
20

my favorite one thus far :rofl:

草臥れる: to be exhausted

草: grass
臥: bend down, lie prostrate

2 Likes