起立・きりつ・standing up
Interesting article about this:
悔し泣き・くやしなき・tears of regret
ぺこり、ぺこん・action of quickly bowing one’s head
ベニヤ・veneer, plywood
進行度・しんこうど・rate of progression
半べそ・はんべそ・half-crying, on the verge of crying
通報・つうほう・report, notification, tip
到底・とうてい・(cannot) possibly, utterly, (not) by any means
爪の垢・つめのあか・dirt under one’s fingernails, shred (of decency, etc.)
一息つく・ひといきつく・to take a breather
ちゃらんぽらん・irresponsible, sloppy
最上級・さいじょうきゅう・highest grade
Been saving up for a few days, as I didn’t want to double-post 
外科医・げかい・surgeon
A doctor who takes things out with science. The odd reading is because they receive external funding from General Electric. That’s also why your new heart has a GE logo on it.
怒鳴る・どなる・to yell (with anger)
Mnemonic (Swedish): Det dånar när gudarna skriker ilsket. (It rumbles loudly when the gods yell angrily.)
Mnemonic (Japanglish): 「D’oh!」鳴る
嗄れ声・しゃがれごえ・hoarse voice
Shaggy is trying to call out for Scooby, but Shaggy’s voice is too hoarse from all the weed he smokes. Imagine Shaggy being brutalized by a [ghost / insurance fraudster], unable to call for help because he’s so hoarse.
This Cartoon Network PSA was produced in partnership with DARE.
解雇・かいこ・discharge, dismissal, termination of employment
Mnemonic (Swedish): If you are kajko (dysfunctional, broken, nuts), you will likely experience 解雇. Imagine your boss stamping your employment contract with a big, red stamp that says “KAJKO”.
蚕・かいこ・domestic silkworm
Mnemonic: The moment your employment is terminated, you scream and transform into a domestic silkworm. Such were the terms of the curse, that if you lost your job before finding true love, you would be transformed into a domestic silkworm. For you, 解雇 and 蚕 are one and the same.
Now the only job you’ll ever have will be producing silk for the witch.
澄む・すむ・1) to become clear/transparent (e.g. water, air); 2) to become serene/tranquil
Reading mnemonic: Take this with a grain of salt, but I’ve seen various blog posts (such as this one) suggesting that 澄む, 済む and 住む were originally the same word. The original sense was of settling down from a turbulent state to a calmer one. A body of water, a project, a traveler - all can settle down in one way or another.
Whether it’s true or not, it makes for a decent mnemonic.
Kanji mnemonic: Have you seen drops of water (氵) climb (登) into the sky? No, you haven’t, because climbing water is clear and transparent. You know it happens all the time, because that’s how clouds are made, but it happens so slowly and serenely that you can’t actually see it.
澄ます・すます・to clear up, to make clear
When Captain America needed to clear New York of Chitauri, he turned to his friend and said 「ハルク。。。スマシてください。」
Well, actually, he said 「ハルク、暴れろ。」, but that doesn’t help.
澄み切る・すみきる・to be/become perfectly clear (e.g. water, weather, sounds)
本草・ほんぞう・medicinal herbs
本草学・ほんぞうがく・1) herbalism, pharmacognosy (in general); 2) the study of plants, minerals and animal parts for use in traditional Chinese and Japanese medicine
脱落・だつらく・shedding, dropping off, omission
Mnemonic: “That’s rock!” What is, you ask? Shedding social conventions and dropping out of conformist society! Dropping out of school also helps you to become better at rock, as does shedding your skin. That’s rock’n’roll, baby!
信心脱落・しんじんだつらく・casting off the body-mind (Buddhist concept)
The ultimate form of rock’n’roll.
卑しい・いやしい・1) lowborn, lowly; 2) shabby, menial; 3) greedy, avaricious; 4) vulgar, mean
Etymology: A hand holding a fan. Fanning nobles is the role of lowly servants.
Reading mnemonic: If you realize that you are lowborn, you will likely say 「イヤァ～！」 a lot. The same also goes if you are vulgar, greedy, or mean.
Usage: Looking at example sentences, it doesn’t seem easy to distinguish between these meanings; 卑しい心 is translated as “a humble person”, while 心が卑しい人 is translated as “a vulgar person”. I get the feeling that it’s a bit like the English “lowly”; humble to say of yourself, or when said sympathetically, but can also be said condescendingly or resentfully.
Probably not a word I’ll be using, but good to know.
卑しめる・いやしめる・to demean, to look down on, to abase
卑しん坊・いやしんぼう・greedy person
卑屈・ひくつ・subservient, menial
痺れる・しびれる・1) to go numb, to fall asleep (of body parts); 2) to be mesmerized, to be enthralled, to be entranced; 3) to receive an electric shock
Often spelled using kana.
Mnemonic: There are two kinds of “fan disease”: 1) When you fan somebody until you go numb. 2) When you see something you like so much that you become mesmerized.
Alternatively: You have a thrall’s disease; that’s why you’re so enthralled.
Reading mnemonic: Who is it that you’re fanb0i:ing/fangirling over so hard? Why, chibi Sheev (or “Shibi” for short), of course! You’re so mesmerized by Sheev, your entire body goes numb; it’s like you’ve received an electric shock!
滞る・とどこおる・1) to stagnate, to be left undone; 2) to be overdue, to be outstanding
Kanji mnemonic: There is water (氵) rushing towards you, but you use your belt (帯) to stop it, and cause the flood to stagnate.
Keyword mnemonic: Looks like a mix between 止まる and 凍る; something that stops and freezes.
Alternatively, you have a piece of paper to says “TO DO: 凍る”. It seems even your stagnation is overdue.
渋滞・じゅうたい・congestion (e.g. traffic), delay, stagnation
Mnemonic: Why is there traffic congestion? Because somebody has taken the 十-shaped intersection and tied it into a knot, making a 十-tie.
危うい・あやうい・dangerous, perilous, facing impending danger
Keyword mnemonic: When you hear somebody shouting “AAH! YOWIE!”, you know there’s something dangerous up ahead.
フリーター・freeter, person who subsists on part-time work (short for フリーアルバイター)
メルヘン・fairy tale (from German “Märchen”)
Mer-hens only appear in メルヘン.
密航・みっこう・1) stowaway; 2) people-smuggling
Looking at example sentences, it appears that the first sense is more common, even when being used as a する verb.
得手・えて・forte; success; getting what one wants
猿公・えてこう・monkey, ape; personification of a monkey/ape
Not common in everyday speech, but may be heard in stories involving monkeys or apes. It is sometimes translated as “Mr. Monkey”.
May have originated as a pun. 得る is more or less the opposite of 去る, and are more keen on grabbing things than they are on letting them go. They are getters, or 得手.
This also (partially) helps to explain Etemon.
ドタキャン - cancel at the last minute. Abbreviation of 土壇場でキャンセル.
貧血 ひんけつ
Anemia
Wife went to doctor today and has anemia so she got supplements for it.
語源学 － ごげんがく － etymology, as in, the study of a word’s origins. If you mean the etymology of a particular word, you just use 語源。
100th post
斜め・ななめ・slanting, tilted, diagonal
Keyword mnemonic: Your friend has seven (なな) eyes (め). Nothing weird about that, except that they’re laid out diagonally across his face.
You wonder if that means that the whole world looks slanted from his point of view.
抉る・えぐる・to gouge, to hollow out, to scoop out
Commonly spelled using kana.
Kanji mnemonic: A person (人) with a hook (ユ) for a hand (手). What is this person good at? Gouging, of course!
Reading mnemonic: This gouging hook makes it really easy to eat an egg. Imagine Captain Hook sitting down and eating an egg with his hook. He is a real egg guru.
卑猥・ひわい・obscene, indecent
漏電・ろうでん・short-circuit; leakage (electricity)
Keyword mnemonic: We have a rōden problem. Rats have been getting in and chewing up our electrical wires, causing rōden.
黙秘・もくひ・staying silent, keeping secret
黙秘権・もくひけん・the right to remain silent
手下・てした・subordinate, underling, henchman, minion
睨む・にらむ・to glare (at), to scowl (at), to glower (at)
歪む・ゆがむ・to warp, to swerve, to be distorted, to be perverted
Kanji etymology: Not right.
Reference/Mnemonic: I heard this in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders. Avdol describes JoJo’s perception of India as being 歪んだ. If your perception of India is Uganda, your perception is clearly warped, skewed and not right. In fact, if you point to just about anything on Earth and call it Uganda, you have about a 99.84% risk of being wrong (99.95% if you count all the water).
要素・ようそ・component; factor; item (in a list), element (in a set/array)
脇・わき・1) armpit; 2) beside, by, near
Kanji mnemonic: This is like the body part equivalent of 協. What body part do you use when cooperating? Why, your armpit, of course! When you cooperate, you link arms so that your armpits will touch, thereby allowing your sweat - the physical manifestation of labor - to mix and merge.
Reading: You form a long chain of people linked together by their armpits. At either end is a person with one arm free, which they use to manage a walkie-talkie.
脇見・わきみ・looking from the side; looking aside
I learned this from a 日本語の森 episode. Well, from the thumbnail, actually; I haven’t watched the episode, but I will!
脇見運転・わきみうんてん・inattentive driving, taking one’s eyes off the road
脇差・わきざし・wakizashi (traditional Japanese sword)
I’d heard this word before, but never stop to think what it means: A sword specifically for stabbing your enemy in the armpit.
逆説・ぎゃくせつ・paradox
From earlier in this thread.
咎・とが・1) error, mistake, fault; 2) sin, wrongdoing, offense
Kanji mnemonic: Kissing (各) a person (人) who is smaller than your mouth (口) is a big mistake; they could suffocate or experience severe blunt-force trauma. You might even give in to temptation and eat them; that would be a sin.
Reading mnemonic: To make matters worse, it’s the middle of winter (夂), and this lilliputian you’re kissing is wearing nothing but a toga. A toga doesn’t offer nearly enough protection against the elements, not to mention your massive lips of death.
咎める・とがめる・to find fault with, to criticize
研ぐ・とぐ・to sharpen, to hone, to grind
Reading mnemonic: I know from Level 8 that this kanji means “sharpen”, but the と reading isn’t taught on WaniKani.
I imagine myself sitting by a lantern, sharpening something with a rock. What am I sharpening? My toe.
The lantern’s light is reflected in a pool of toe goo as I sit there, sharpening my toe with a rock. It’s very painful, but I’m convinced that having a sharper toe will give me an edge (literally).
尖る・とがる・1) to taper to a point, to become pointed/sharp; 2) to be on edge, to look sour
Also has the transitive counterparts 尖らす and 尖らせる, which appear to be used more or less interchangeably.
Kanji etymology/mnemonic: Something large (大) with a small (小) tip.
Reading mnemonic: (for 尖らす) The toe-garasu! Crows are known for their sharp toes (or “talons”, as they’re known in the biz), and the toe-garasu is responsible for inspecting them. When a crow hears the toe-garasu coming, it quickly starts sharpening its toes, lest they be deemed unfit to serve.
The word 尖らす is also used to describe puckering up your lips, like you do when you need to kiss a crow’s feet.
図星・ずぼし・1) bull’s eye; 2) really, verily, totes magotes
独占・どくせん・monopoly, exclusivity; hogging for oneself
Mnemonic: I always do fortune-telling alone, so that I can keep my winnings all to myself.
It also allows me get exclusive interviews with dead people.
大手・おおて・major company
企画・きかく・plan, project, design
It’s not entirely clear to me what the difference is between 企画 and 計画. One difference appears to be that a 企画 is more of a general outline (we want to achieve this and that), whereas a 計画 goes more into the details of how and when things should be done.
Jisho defines 企画書 as “proposal” but 計画書 as “plan; protocol; manifest; program”, which I think supports this interpretation.
Wikipedia describes Digimon as 「1996年よりウィズが企画・原案を行い 」, supposedly meaning that the groundwork of the franchise was laid out in 1996.
原案・げんあん・original plan, draft
I’m familiar with 原, but 案 is somewhat new to me (I know it by sound from 案内所 and 公案, but not in writing).
Etymology: Semantic 木 + phonetic 安 (and still shares its on’yomi). This kanji originally referred to a small table, perhaps something like this, hence the inclusion of “wood”. According to Henshall (citing Yamada), the meanings of “plan”, “consider” and “investigate” are due to phonetic loans.
Kanji mnemonic: It’s my safe-tree. When the world is in chaos, I retreat to my safe-tree to make plans. The tree has equations and to-do lists carved into it, and a hollow filled with drafted plans.
アラ汁（あらじる）
I just had that soup at Kura sushi. At that time I didn’t know that あら is a type of fish. When I got the soup, I discovered that it’s a fish soup, I had to look up what that word means. The dictionary reveals “saw-edged perch (Niphon spinosus)”, although I have no idea what that means. A quick Google search reveals a huge fish. But, of course, I already knew that 汁 means soup.
嵌る・はまる・1) to fit into, to be fit/suitable for; 2) to get stuck
Often spelled with kana.
嵌める・はめる・1) to insert, to fit something into something else; 2) to entrap, to ensnare, to put into shackles; 3) to do boom-chicka-wow stuff (vulgar term)
Often spelled with kana.
I know the words 羽目 and the vulgar expression ハメ from before, both of which are indeed related to the word 嵌める, so hopefully that will help me remember this term.
当てはまる・あてはまる・to apply, to be applicable, to hold true (speaking of rules)
状況・じょうきょう・state of affairs, conditions
行為・こうい・act, deed, conduct
対比・たいひ・contrast, comparison
否定・ひてい・denial, negation, repudiation
打ち消す・うちけす・1) to deny, to contradict; 2) to drown out (e.g. a sound)
I punch an eraser. This causes a shock wave of erasure power to emanate from it, contradicting any and all statements. Written statements disintegrate, and spoken statements are drowned out.
Edit: Just realized that I forgot to include an eraser in this gif. However, this intense sense of failure will only make my memories stronger.
法師 ほうし Buddhist Monk
from inuyasha 
単品・たんぴん・for when you only want to order the main dish of a set/combo
I thought this one would be on WaniKani for sure, but I can’t find it on the stats page. I might suggest this since it’s a useful word, although it doesn’t have any notes on how common it is on jisho.org
普通に・ふつうに・actually, really (colloquial/slang)
As discussed here, this term has a few colloquial usages that are quite different from “usually, ordinarily”.
ら抜き言葉・らぬきことば・“ら-removed word”; potential form of an ichidan verb with the ら removed (e.g. 食べれる instead of 食べられる)
れ足す言葉・れたすことば・“れ-added word”; potential form of an godan verb with a れ added (e.g. 行けれる instead of 行ける)
慣用句・かんようく・idiom, set phrase, idiomatic expression
Spotted this word on アンちゃん’s bilingual blog. It gave me a bit of a dopamine rush, because I had to guess the reading of 慣 based on the phonetic component and the meaning of the phrase based on context, and I got them right
It got me thinking that perhaps 貫 was quite a useful phonetic component and … it turns out it really isn’t; while all of the kanji that use 貫 or 毌 as a phonetic component do have the on’yomi かん, 貫 and 慣 appear to be the only ones that actually get any use.
賭博・とばく・gambling
検閲・けんえつ・censorship
生放送・なまほうそう・live broadcast
驚愕・きょうがく・astonishment, amazement, surprise
Keyword mnemonic: If I were accepted by Kyouto Daigaku, I would be astonished, amazed and surprised. I didn’t even apply!
Kanji mnemonic: 驚 - I show respect (敬) for a horse (馬) by clapping and stomping my feet. This startles the horse, causing it to kick me.
愕 - The kangaroo (丂) is eating my soul/heart (忄), and all I can do is watch with a stupid look on my face (
). I am surprised and frightened.
帝・みかど・emperor
違法・いほう・illegal・used in regards to making any changes to the work schedule 
ごっこ・pretend, make-believe
鬼ごっこ・おにごっこ・tag (children’s game)
Can be interpreted as “playing oni”. One possible etymology of ごっこ is that it is related to 交互 (“alternating”), so it could perhaps also mean “taking turns to be oni”.
Another possibility is that ごっこ is related to 事, which I guess would make this “doing oni stuff”.
鼬ごっこ・いたちごっこ・“playing weasel”; going in circles, doing something over and over again and getting nowhere, playing cat and mouse
This expression makes sense, as weasels are near the bottom of the mustelid productivity spectrum. Heck, minks are technically a type of weasel, and what do they do? Just hop around, hang by the lake … rubbish.
自粛・じしゅく・self-restraint, voluntary restraint, self-discipline
This comes up quite a lot when talking about covid-19.
外出自粛・がいしゅつじしゅく・staying indoors, refraining from going outside
自粛警察・じしゅくけいさつ・self-appointed pandemic police
If I were ever to get one of those four-kanji tattoos…
珍味・ちんみ・delicacy
ゴージャス・gorgeous, sumptuous, extravagant, luxurious
幻滅・げんめつ・disillusionment, disappointment
断言・だんげん・assertion, declaration, affirmation
風来坊・ふうらいぼう・wanderer, drifter, vagabond
I feel like I’ve heard this word before and just interpreted it as “flyboy”. Either that, or I’m just conflating it with this Star Wars line:
名門・めいもん・1) noble family, noted family; 2) prestigious school, organization, business, etc.
名言・めいげん・memorable quote, wise saying
明言・めいげん・declaration, statement
名言 and 明言 are homophones, but I suspect that 明言 will be more common, unless there is context to suggest otherwise.
急増・きゅうぞう・rapid increase, proliferation, surge
なぞらえる・to pattern after, to liken
There are several possible kanji spellings for this word, such as 準える, 准える and 擬える. However, なぞら is not a standard kun-reading for these kanji, and this site suggests that all of these spellings can be used interchangeably, a lot of people won’t recognize it, and therefore it is commonly spelled using hiragana.
弾く・はじく・1) to flick (e.g. with a finger); 2) to repel; 3) to pluck the strings of an instrument
Commonly spelled using kana. When spelled with kanji, it is a homograph of 弾く. In fact, ひ is an Joyo kun’yomi, whereas はじ is not.
It seems that the object can be either the thing flicked (i.e. 指をはじく) or the thing struck (i.e. 顔を指ではじく) or repelled (i.e. このレインコートは水を完全にはじく).
弾き・はじき・gun, pistol
Slang. Commonly written using kana.
お弾き・おはじき・ohajiki; game similar to marbles
流し・ながし・nagashi, roaming singer (a sort of predecessor to karaoke machines)
I’m currently listening to Matt Alt’s Pure Invention: How Japan’s Pop Culture Conquered the World, and it’s really good so far. One of the chapters focuses a lot on 流し.
惚れ薬・ほれぐすり・love potion, aphrodisiac
媚薬・びやく・aphrodisiac, love potion
惚れ薬 and 媚薬 have the same glosses, but the latter appears to have a more scientific feel, so I reversed the order of the glosses.
風車・ふうしゃ or かざぐるま・windmill
痛烈
建之・これをたつ・roughly means “this was erected” - found on
貧弱・ひんじゃく・poor, meagre, feeble, shabby
絶対○○するマン・ぜったい○○するマン・somebody who is very proficient at “○○する” (replace this with the verb of your choice)
This began as a joke in the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure fandom. A power Stand in that manga received the joking nickname 絶対殺すマン (“definitely-killing-man”), and this has since come to be used as a template for other nicknames. Further explanation can be found here.
域・いき・level, region, limits
This can be used in expressions like プロの域 (“pro-level”).
領域・りょういき・territory, field, domain, sphere (of influence/knowledge)
域外・いきがい・outside the area
Mnemonic: My ikigai (生き甲斐) is to get out of the area. I just love traveling, no matter where it is.
Heck, these days I’d settle for leaving the apartment a bit more often.
領域外・りょういきがい・outside one’s sphere/field (of knowledge/influence)
Example sentence: (from Weblio)
生化学は僕の領域外だ。 Biochemistry is outside my field.
塾・じゅく・cram school
Mnemonic: This is the same 塾 that is found in the word 熟語 (compound word), which is a word that has a bunch of kanji crammed together. For example, a 四字熟語 has four characters crammed into a single word.
塾 is also a homophone of 受苦 (suffering pain), which is fitting.
省察・せいさつ・reflection, consideration
ポイント・gist, trick, key to doing something
As in English, this can be used to describe the gist or main point of what one is saying, as in 彼はポイント生徒に十分わからせた (“He drove the point home to his students”).
However, I was listening to Learn Japanese Pod the other day, and there they mentioned that ポイント can also be used to describe a sort of trick or technique for doing something. So, while we’re used to using the word “point” to describe a purpose, the Japanese it can also be used to describe a means of doing something.
Reverso gives this example sentence:
作り方のポイントはカラメルりんごです。 The key/secret to making it is the caramelized apples.
Just learned 完食 （かんしょく・completed meal/ finishing a meal completely)
and also ゲロ吐く (げろはく・to puke/ vomit)
Which I then subsequently was able to use a few hours later when I found a long hair (not mine) in my pasta at a restaurant. 
劣等感 - れっとうかん - inferiority complex
Oo, I like that haiku. I like this word a lot. I know it from Basho’s final haiku:
旅に病んで夢は枯野をかけ廻る
パンピー which means something like “normie”
comes from 一般+ピープル
