Jukugo words with several meanings (市場, 風車 etc.)

Japanese Language
#1

As I started my grind towards kanken with material for natives, I have come across quite a lot of new vocabulary. More specifically I am struggling with jukugo words that have two (or more) readings and sometimes the readings have a different meaning.

For example:
風車(かざぐるま) = pinwheel
風車(ふうしゃ) = windmill
or
市場(いちば) = marketplace (physical place)
市場(しじょう) = market (abstract concept)

Some more: 声色, 作文

作文(さくぶん) = writing (essay, prose, formal)
作文(さくもん) = writing (poetry)… archaic word

声色(こわいろ) = tone of voice
声色(せいしょく) = voice and countenance

Have you come across similar things, where the meaning is different? Please share if you have!

ps. Does anyone know, whther there is a difference between
黄色(おうしょく) and 黄色(きいろ) or are they just pure synonyms with one being more used?
Has been bothering me for a while :smiley:

1 Like
#2

It’s not unusual for words to have both onyomi and kunyomi readings that don’t result in any real difference.

I have never heard anyone say おうしょく to just talk about color.

But the word 黄色人種, for instance, is read おうしょくじんしゅ, not きいろじんしゅ. Whether you want to use that word ever is up to you…

An example that WaniKani still doesn’t seem to have a good way to handle is 額がく (picture frame) and 額ひたい (forehead). Right now they just act like forehead doesn’t exist. To be fair, it’s a more scientific sounding word for that area. おでこ is more common for just everyday language.

1 Like
#3

This is what I thought! Thanks for the answer :smiley:
Now, if there only weren’t all these funny words with actually two different meanings/contexts, I would actually sometimes get full points in my mock tests… I have mostly no problem with kanji, but sometimes the vocabulary (in 8級 books none the less!!) goes over my head so I miss the context and have no idea what the word given in hiragana should represent T_T

#4

That’s a shame… since my mnemonic for that kanji will forever be about
額当て in Naruto :sweat_smile:

#5

This topic was automatically closed 365 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.