I recently looked up いらっしゃいませ’s dictionary form いらっしゃる after blindly accepting it to just mean “welcome” for so long, only for it to turn out that it’s another 参る-like verb, with the double “to come/to go” meaning. I’m guessing the origin as いらっしゃいませ simply comes from using it to mean “come in”, but it adds a lot more depth to something I previously took as a set expression.
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締め切り しめきり, “deadline”, from a Japanese friend on why she always works so late.
Okay that took a turn so why don’t we spice it up with a fun fact?
An alternative spelling of 締め切り is 〆切り; that character, 〆, is typable but shows up absolutely nowhere is Japanese dictionaries most of the time and is completely unknown to pretty much all my Japanese contacts!
I’m using it forever now 
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It’s quite common in my experience…? At the school where I work it’s used regularly on the calendar. Do you have an example of a dictionary that doesn’t mention it with しめきり?
〆 is quite common actually. glad you learn the word.
That’s what I’ve been looking at?!? I can’t believe I never learned this before…
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I don’t think I’ve learned a new word recently. I’m focusing on spelling and grammar so I’m only noticing familiar words so far.
)編集済み
へんしゅうずみ
Edited
Been seeing this one all the time since switching my YouTube OS
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政策・せいさく・policy, political measure(s)
Seen in a WaniKani context sentence, but written as 政さく. I wondered if it was related to the さく of 作戦, and it seems the answer is “maybe, maybe not”; 策戦 is in fact a valid alternative spelling of 策戦, but I don’t know how that came about historically.
In any event, it’s a somewhat decent mnemonic: “political operation” or “political move”. -
渚・なぎさ・shore, water’s edge, beach
Kanji mnemonic: There is somebody (者) by the water (氵). Clearly, they are on the shore. -
汀・みぎわ・shore, water’s edge, waterside
Kanji mnemonic: There is street (丁) by the water (氵). Clearly, it follows the shore.
Etymology: 水 + 際 -
構え・かまえ・1) structure, appearance; 2) stance, pose, posture (i.e. in martial arts); 3) readiness; 4; enclosure-type kanji component (i.e. the 門 in 間 or the 口 in 国)
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鎌鼬・かまいたち・1) a cut in the skin caused by a whirlwind; 2) [kamaitachi], or “sickle weasel”; a weasel-like yokai that travels with the wind and cuts people
Found this while looking up 構え, and it has been suggested that this word originated as a corruption of a 構え太刀 (the name of a particular sword stance).
This term is sometimes used to describe the blades of wind that samurai like to shoot from their swords in anime. It is also the Japanese name for the Pokémon move “Razor Wind”. -
訛り・なまり・1) accent; 2) dialect, provincialism, patois; 3) corrupted form of a word, mispronunciation
Commonly spelled using kana.
Example sentence: 強いスウェーデン語なまりの英語を話します。 I speak English with a thick Swedish accent.
Keyword mnemonic (kind of): On my first visit to Japan, some people in Hokkaido were eager to teach me some local slang. The first word they taught me was なまら (very), so I’ve come to associate that with regional speech. Hopefully, that will help me to remember what this means. -
暗示・あんじ・hinting (at), suggestion (of)
Used a lot in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, to say things like “the Stand that suggests (whatever the Stand represents)”. -
稀に見る・まれにみる・extraordinary, singular, rare
Example sentence: 稀に見る人格の人だ。 He is a man of rare nobility of character.
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必読 - must read
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発行・はっこう・to publish
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付録・ふろく・appendix, supplement, included extra issue
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極める・きわめる・to carry to an extreme
Transitive analog to 極まる.
Mnemonic: The game Yakuza Kiwami is named after the related word 極み (“extreme, peak”).
Etymology/Mnemonic: Related to 際 (“edge”), which also appeared in the etymology for 汀 in my previous post. -
チャック・zipper, zip fastener
I learned this from the WaniKani context sentence 「布が絡んじゃって、チャックがうまく開かないのよ。」, which I interpreted as “Chuck got all tangled up in fabric and couldn’t move properly.” -
悪寒・おかん・chills (sensation, rather than objective temperature), shakes
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予感・よかん・hunch, premonition
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楷書・かいしょ・regular script, Kai style, Chinese block characters
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飽きる・あきる・to get sick of, to get fed up with
I suspect that this is related to 諦める, but I’m not certain. -
応募・おうぼ・application (i.e. for a job, scholarship); entry (i.e. in a raffle, contest); enlistment
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習慣・しゅうかん・1) habit; 2) custom, social convention
Once you become accustomed to learning, it becomes a habit. -
詐欺・さぎ・fraud, swindle, trick, scam
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鷺・さぎ・heron
Keyword mnemonic: Saggi the Dark clown is a fraud. He isn’t really a clown at all; he’s just a heron in disguise.
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盗み聞き - eavesdropping, tapping
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鱈腹・たらふく・eating/drinking to one’s heart’s content
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鉄格子・てつごうし・iron bars
Note that 格子 undergoes rendaku, even though it uses on’yomi. -
賭け事・かけごと・gambling
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奇策・きさく・clever scheme, bizarre plan, perplexing strategy
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気さく・きさく・friendly, amiable, openhearted
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脆い・もろい・1) brittle, weak, fragile, frail; 2) tender-hearted, sentimental, easily moved
Commonly spelled using kana. -
悪党・あくとう・villain
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耽る・ふける・to indulge in, to be engrossed in, to be lost in
Commonly spelled using kana. Commonly used as a V2. -
読みふける・よみふける・to be engrossed in reading
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思いふける・おもいふける・to be lost in thought
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マリも・marimo, moss ball
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もっこり・bulge (particularly one of the “rabbit in your pocket” variety)
Some of you may already be aware of the mascot known as まりもっこり. For those of you who aren’t … enjoy:
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Let me see hold up…能 as in the Noh play. I already know the Kanji but I see this means that as well mhm hm…
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上がる・あがる・to rise/to go up
Uh…how do you blur out hiragana? Also is that a rule that we must do so?
How: Select the text you want to blur, and then go to the cogwheel at the top right of the editor and select „Blur Spoiler“.
Why: It’s not mandatory, of course! But if you blur the reading and meaning, you basically turn it into a tiny quiz for that word, which makes it all the more interesting (at least for me 
). But if you don’t blur it, that’s of course fine as well.
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Yay, the thread lives! Been saving up for a few days 
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ブタ・1. (in oicho-kabu) a hand worth 10 or 20 points; 2) (by extension) a terrible hand of cards
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滓・カス・dregs, leftovers, by-product
Commonly spelled using katakana. -
さもなくば or さもなければ・otherwise, if not, or else
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人望・じんぼう・popularity
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不死身・ふじみ・invulnerability, immortality, insensibility to pain
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木っ端・こっぱ・1) wood chip, splinter; 2) worthless thing/person
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微塵・みじん・particle, atom, smallest piece
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木端微塵・こっぱみじん・bits and pieces, fragments and splinters, (to) smithereens
Commonly spelled using kana. -
背後・はいご・1) back, rear; 2) background (i.e. background information)
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杖・つえ・walking stick
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松葉杖・まつばづえ・crutch(es)
So called, apparently, because a typical crutch is bifurcated, making it look a bit like a pine needle.
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股・また・1) crotch, groin, thigh; 2) fork (in a river, road, etc.)
Kanji etymology: Seely+Henshall and Yellow Bridge both suggest semantic 肉 (“flesh, body part”) + phonetic 殳.
Wiktionary, meanwhile, suggests an ideogrammic compound: 肉 (“flesh, body part”) + 殳 (“action”), pointing to the thigh as an active part of the body. You know, for walking and stuff.
I’m leaning a bit towards the first explanation, but I can’t deny that the second is more memorable…
Mnemonic: Gloss 2) is presumably the explanation for the name of a cat with a forked tail. -
二股・ふたまた・1) two-timing, seeing two people at the same time; 2) bifurcation; 3) fence-sitting
Not sure if gloss 1 is intended as a pun or simply a natural extension of gloss 2. -
修正・しゅうせい・correction, amendment, revision, fix
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円筒・えんとう・cylinder
Keyword mnemonic: What is an “ent o”? Why, it is a tiny ent that has been hollowed out, leaving a cylindrical shape, kind of like penne pasta. Imagine yourself eating a bowl full of tiny, cylindrical ents as Treebeard cries in the corner.
Ent-o’s - they’re more bark than bite! -
轡・くつわ・bit (the part of the bridle put in a horse’s mouth)
Commonly spelled using kana.
Kanji mnemonic: Wiktionary suggests that this is an ideogrammic compound of 絲 (“rope”) and 軎 (“carriage part”). However, it’s easier for me to remember it as a cart (車) connected to a mouth (口) by two two strings (糸). The 轡 is what goes in that mouth.
Reading etymology: くつ is an old combining form of 口, leaving us with 口 + 輪 = 轡. -
猿轡・さるぐつわ・gag (used to silence somebody)
轡 is usually spelled using kana. 猿 seems to be spelled in kana some of the time but not always. -
縄張り・なわばり・1) cordoning off; 2) territory, turf, sphere of influence
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灼熱・しゃくねつ・1) becoming red hot, scorching heat, incandescence; 2) running hot (emotions), burning (passion, enthusiasm, etc.)
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執着・しゅうちゃく・fixation, obsession, tenacity, attachment
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焦がす・こがす・to scorch, to burn, to singe, to char
Transitive equivalent of 焦げる. -
寡黙・かもく・untalkative, taciturn, reticent
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誘き寄せる・おびきよせる・to lure, to entice
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化身・けしん・avatar, embodiment, incarnation
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空白・くうはく・1) blank space (in documents); 2) void, vacuum
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愚者・ぐしゃ・fool, nitwit
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館・やかた・1) mansion, palace, castle; 2) roofed structure on a boat; 3) house-like structure on a cart; 4) a temporary shelter
Etymology: Apparently comes from 屋形 (“house-shaped”).
From my reading of this Wikipedia article, it seems that the word 屋形 was long used to refer to fortresses and castles that were primarily intended for military use, rather than residences. However, as the role of the samurai changed during the Heian period, the meaning of the word shifted. -
執事・しつじ・butler
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迫真・はくしん・realistic, true to life
Ah, neat; I also knew the kanji but not that it could be used for Noh, so I’m stealing this knowledge
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I’ve always known the term Joyo Kanji, I’ve seen it written as 常用漢字 for the first time… Let’s say it was a revelation 
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Watching the anime 少女革命ウテナ taught me several new words~
革命・かくめい・revolution
黙示録・もくしろく・Apocalypse; Revelation (book of the Bible)
薔薇・ばら・rose (usually written using kana)
生徒・せいと・pupil; student; schoolchild (I knew of 学生 ofc, but not yet knew 生徒)
- 生徒会・せいとかい・student council
- 生徒会長・せいとかいちょう・head / president of the student council
花嫁・はなよめ・bride
交換日記・こうかんにっき・Exchange diary (never knew these existed)
Wikipedia:
An Exchange diary is a notebook shared between friends, who take it in turns to write in their thoughts or other comments. Exchange diaries were especially popular in Japan in the 1990s in elementary and junior high schools, particularly among girls.
Also I just had some more lessons from level 18:
禁句・きんく・taboo word
文句・もんく・complaint
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Verb i-form + どころ
the way one ought to do sth. / how sth. should be done
Expl.: この本の読みどころ このほんのよみどころ
How this book should be read.
It’s the first sentence on the cover of the book 驚きの「歴史雑学」(おどろきの「れきしざつがく」)
I found this expression very useful.
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