You can look up the edit history for a word via the wwwjdic UI – there is a “view database” link in the Links menu for each entry.
Interesting! Thanks for teaching me that ![]()
馬鹿
Horse deer means idiot. It doesn’t make sense because they’re both such nice animals.
If you don’t know, it’s meant to convey that the person who can’t differenciate between a horse and a deer is an idiot. Or so they say ![]()
As Ahrina said, it refers to a Chinese idiom - “point at a deer, call it a horse” - which in turn refers to the story described here! (It’s a darker origin than I realized, describing how those who speak the truth against an evil leader are punished, more than simple idiocy.)
Ah yes, the classic Party slogans: war is peace, freedom is slavery, deer is horse.
Most recent one from WK lessons that stuck with me was 新築 (しんちく, new building). Maybe it’s because I haven’t come across the English translation very often. I think it’s more common to say “new buildings”, i.e. an adjective + noun, rather than “new building” as one term, but in my native language German the noun “Neubau” is definitely part of regular, common speech. I just thought that was cool :3
As for outside of WK, I’ve recently learned 傷付ける (きずつける, to wound) from song lyrics (can’t remember which song though TT)
“Bōtto suru” (ぼーっとする) is a Japanese phrase that translates to “spacing out,” “being in a daze,” “being lost in thought,” or “daydreaming”.
社交辞令 しゃこうじれい
something said for politeness’ sake; diplomatic language; lip service
迷探偵 and 妖精さん from a single tweet.
Voice actress cosplaying as her own character from the game 魔法少女ノ魔女裁判.
A few words learnt wandering around Wanikani:
念 : thought
建てる: to build
飼う: to domesticate
I was curious about the difference between 「飼う」and 「組み立てる」. My guess is the first being related to making a building while the second being associated to assembly in general? Because I saw it used on Gunpla model kit manuals.
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On a more serious note, yah 建てる is used for building (erecting) big things (statue, buildings, countries, cities) and 組み立てる is for assembling something from multiple parts (like your gunpla).
I love the etymology of this word (and really etymology in general), so I’m going to piggyback off this just to share.
It originally referred to the physical act of running around (馳走:馳せる/走る、both meaning “to run”) to gather supplies to cook with, albeit for a guest (usually, one of some importance).
That then transferred to both the actual food itself, coming to represent something of “a feast”, and also the act of putting effort into a meal for someone, or “treating them”, which is of course how we arrive at it being used to mean “to pay for someone’s meal”.
I got curious after watching 神在月のこども, in which the main character, literally, runs around collecting a bunch of different 「馳走」from different areas. There’s some interesting cultural info hidden in a lot of movies centered around old traditions and mythology.
日曜大工 (にちようだいく) that stands for do it yourself. As always, kanji makes everything easy to figure out and remember.
Also learnt 将来 ( しょうらい) : future which differs from 未来 (みらい). My understanding is that the first one is about one’s future, while the second has a further horizon (e.g. the future of humankind)
ご当地 (ごとうじ) meaning local, like local goods! Have never heard or maybe never recognized this word before ![]()
Yes probably so! That’s what I thought I heard on Pimsleur, but then the Google translation I found used じ
thanks for catching that! I just double checked on Pims.
津々浦々 つつうらうら means far and wide.
最有力候補 さいゆうりょくこうほ
prime candidate


