I hate this so much

I’m level 17 and still can’t get rid of this mf.

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I’d just add a user synonym or correct it with the override script.

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はーとがた, right? If not, consider me failing it next time :joy:

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What’s the correct answer supposed to be? Squiggle-shaped? (Only half-kidding here. I would like to know what they’re looking for.)

The correct answer would be “form”, which is synonymous with “shape”, but somehow “shape” is not accepted by default.

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It makes sense, though. 〜形 is read けい, whereas 形 in ハート形 is read がた, so that shows that these are entirely separate vocabs.

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Yeah, but there is already 過去形, 辞書形, 否定形, 複数形, 活用形 and 三角形 in the vocab, 〜形 feels a bit superfluous to me.

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On this topic:

恋 as vocab means “love”, where 恋 as Kanji means “romance”.

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Valid point, but just looking at 〜形 without any context, I would say ‘it depends’ as far as the meaning goes. Also, the existence of ハート形 shows that 〜形 as a visual pattern (and not just a WK vocab word) has different means and readings. Finally, just to add to the confusion… the coronavirus in Japanese is called 新型(がた)コロナウイルス, which literally means ‘new type’ or ‘new model’ coronavirus. You’d think that ‘form’ ought to be closer to that than ‘shape’, but the reading is がた and not けい. (I think the way around this logical hurdle is to tell yourself that ‘models’ are most literally complex physical ‘shapes’, and to know that 〜型 is usually 〜がた.) As @Arzar33 said, knowing words in which 形 appears and is pronounced けい is probably sufficient, and in my opinion, more helpful, since it doesn’t require ‘exceptions’ in one’s mental framework.

EDIT: OK, fine… I guess I still have to acknowledge that ‘form’ is a more useful translation to memorise if you need something to structure your interpretation of new words, and I guess even in Chinese, the most common meaning of 形 is ‘form’ even though the fundamental meaning is ‘form’ as in ‘shape’. And admittedly, ‘form’ is a word with a wider set of meanings than ‘shape’, so I guess it’s a better match for the nebulous nature of kanji, which have multiple related meanings derived from a literal/fundamental meaning.

Isn’t this just splitting hairs? I don’t see how 恋 can ever be dissociated from ‘romance’: it’s ‘romantic love’. And what about 愛? If you say 私の犬に恋している, the least one can say is that you’re in a very irregular situation.

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I think, ~ 形 covers the different forms of 活用形, like

  • 連用形
  • 連体形

Wanikani mnemonic: " (…) It doesn’t just mean form though, it means tense too. Like verb tense."

On a conceptual level these forms are something different than shapes like the referenced heart shaped, I think.

Anyway. Totally get your point and have my very own special friends among the WK items :sweat_smile:

… and welcome to the community :sunflower:

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Hardly the only kanji that differs slightly from its meaning as a vocab item. 生 as a kanji means life, but as a vocab item means raw or fresh. Thing is, kanji aren’t words, even when there’s a word that’s just that kanji. In practice, in most cases a single-kanji word matches its kanji in terms of meaning, but not in all cases, as you see with 恋 and 生.

You see the same kind of thing with 空. As a kanji it can also mean empty, but as a word it won’t ever mean that.

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