My silly rant about 合

Japanese Language Kanji
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TLDR: I hate 合 (definitions: suit/fit/join).
I made a tier list of the words I have unlocked so far containing 合 along with commentary. Read along if you are interested, or don’t :smile:

A tier:
合う = to suit: beautiful. self-explanatory. unproblematic queen

合わせる = to join together: no qualms about this one either, it’s in a similar vein to 合う in my mind

B tier:
知り合い = acquaintance: I don’t really mind this one. If it’s a person you know, and you joined up with them at least once, I can call them an acquaintance.

間に合う = to be in time for: I get this one, like, you were able to join (合) someone/something in the interval (間に) that you planned for. IMO not the best but I’m fine with it.

C tier:
待合 = waiting room: The mnemonic given for this is “The place you wait to join other people is a waiting room or a meeting place.” I mean… I guess so? Though I feel like something like 待室 (wait + room) would make more sense for “waiting room” compared to “wait + join”.

試合 = game: “Attempt + join = game”. Honestly this kinda makes sense to me, in the way that whenever I try to organize game nights with my friends it often ends up being a futile attempt to join together with them. Planning hangouts as adults is hard!!

D tier:
場合 = case: The mnemonic for this one is “What location suits a situation the best? That always depends on the case or circumstance.” I don’t like this one, I mean, “location + suit = case”? Fortunately the mnemonic is simple enough to remember that I answer it right most of the time.

具合 = condition: This one puts a bad taste in my mouth. The mnemonic isn’t the worst: “You have to find the right tool to suit your condition or state.” Okay, fine. But I still get this word wrong all the time because it’s just kinda vague. Do you know the part in the third harry potter movie where that one kid was talking about Sirius Black all ominously, and he’s like “Black could be anywhere… it’s trying to catch smoke with your bare hands”? That’s a visual representation of my brain trying to remember what the heck this word means.

合図 = signal: “Suit + diagram = signal” doesn’t really make sense. Like I guess a diagram that suits the situation can act as a signal? But it’s kinda a stretch. And WK’s mnemonic doesn’t help either: “A diagram everyone joins together to see is a signal or a sign.” Huh? No it’s not? I can look at a diagram all on my lonesome and it still may or may not be a signal/sign. But whatever.

F tier:
合格する = to pass a test: Absolutely not. “Suit + status = to pass a test”? Clearly whoever invented this word didn’t pass their tests in school because this doesn’t make sense at all sorry.

都合 = one’s convenience: I get this one wrong every time. I seriously hate it. Wanikani’s mnemonic even starts off with “This one makes no sense (sorry!).” Like excuse me?! Isn’t it WK’s whole job to come up with good mnemonics that will make me remember the words? But I can’t fully blame WK either because “metropolis + suit = one’s convenience” is simply outrageous

That’s the end of my ramble about 合, hopefully having written this post will make me remember these words better in the future? though probably not tbh

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格 (status / rank) に 合う (to match / fit / meet)
You matched the rank you were tested for… seems fine to me.
The words weren’t invented with one single English word in mind. Go find others that apply if you need to, or try reading monolingual definitions.

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But it can mean to meet too (会う).

I agree that it’s difficult to get a good grasp on this kanji, the meaning doesn’t map well to English.

振 is another one that’s a bit all over the place.

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iykwim

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If it helps somewhat, 都合 is a decently common word, so you’ll get the knack of it eventually by just reading. I find the “One’s convenience” meaning misleading though, because in reality there are like 5 or 6 sentence patterns it usually appears in with different meanings.

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I love this explanation. Definitely gonna add this to my meaning notes because I did not make this connection at all ~ :smiley:

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I agree, I couldn’t make heads or tails of this one and 勝手 that are introduced close to one another and have superficially similar meanings, but since then I’ve encountered them in the wild a few times and they make a lot more sense in context (and are used for completely different things).

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yeah, 勝手 in 99% of the cases is used in “勝手にしよう”, “do as you please”, while 都合 is used more as a sort of “because”

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I actually remember the first time I encountered 都合 in the wild, it was at the very beginning of Parasite Eve:

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In this case 都合する means more like “to arrange” I think, although I suppose you could twist it a bit and make it “to make it convenient for me”.

Yeah I think 勝手 carries more a sense of entitlement, so it can be used as a polite way to tell somebody that they can do as they please, or as a way to reproach to someone that they’re taking too many liberties. At least that’s what I gathered from my encounters with it so far.

都合 is more neutral in a sense.

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If not ready for reading much, maybe try to get reading first before Kanji form.

Maybe EN => reading like KameSame. Or try writing, and install and use a Japanese IME.

tbh, some Kanji may eventually be misused, but remember the reading well first.

And there is also 待合室.

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How is this B tier, I always type something different and get it wrong, I hate this word. :angry:

Other than that I agree with everything else, specially the 都合 thing. I haven’t encountered it in the wild yet, and the different reading gets me every time

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I haven’t really had too much issue with 間に合う, I guess the idea of “join/meet” and “[time] interval” was enough for my brain to piece it together somehow? but I feel for you 100% about having certain words that you just can’t stand :sob: I’m not usually a complainer or a negative person but with some of these 合 words I just had to get it off my chest :sweat_smile:

I’m happy that I’m not the only one who hates 合, especially 都合, I think I finally got it back up to Guru after answering it wrong a few times. Hopefully once I see it in the wild it might stick

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(checks) I have 間に合う on apprentice IV… again!!! :anger:

At least I know the reading, it’s the meaning that makes me fail it every time. I hope that talking about this kanji and related vocab help us remember better next time :sob:

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I just did my reviews a few minutes ago and got all of my 合 vocabulary correct! Which hasn’t happened in ages. Maybe complaining does work, lol :sweat_smile: so maybe it’ll make a difference for you too :woman_shrugging:

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My immediate thought was “suit like a piece of clothing” and “a diagram is a picture” with led to “batsuit + picture of a bat = batsignal”. I guess once I get to that level I’ll have a mnemonic ready.

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待合 = waiting room : The mnemonic given for this is “The place you wait to join other people is a waiting room or a meeting place.” I mean… I guess so? Though I feel like something like 待室 (wait + room) would make more sense for “waiting room” compared to “wait + join”.

Since it’s also “meeting place”, the 室 wouldn’t make much sense. And there’s also 待合室 for what you’re looking for.

具合 = condition : This one puts a bad taste in my mouth

Same. Neither the mnemonic nor the kanji combination itself makes sense imo.

合格する = to pass a test : Absolutely not. “Suit + status = to pass a test”? Clearly whoever invented this word didn’t pass their tests in school because this doesn’t make sense at all sorry.

It makes sense to me actually. “Status” is the “status quo”, meaning what is expected of you. If you suit/fit that status quo (so if you reach the minimum of what’s expected of you), you’ve passed the exam.

都合 = one’s convenience : I get this one wrong every time. I seriously hate it. Wanikani’s mnemonic even starts off with “This one makes no sense (sorry!).” Like excuse me?! Isn’t it WK’s whole job to come up with good mnemonics that will make me remember the words? But I can’t fully blame WK either because “metropolis + suit = one’s convenience” is simply outrageous

Sometimes the word is so bad that even the combined powers of WK employees can’t find a good mnemonic. I hate this one too.

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in a lot of cases this happens because the glossses are bad or you don’t understand the kanji/word

like 都合 makes a lot more sense when you realise it doesn’t really mean “at one’s convenience” (as others have pointed out) and that “city” is only part of what is covered by 都 and it also relates to stuff like “elegance”, “gather” and “command”

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It seems like despite 合 having multiple permitted meanings, “suit” is shoehorned everywhere. That won’t work :frowning: .

I think the gloss might come from 都合がいい and 都合が悪い, but “at one’s convenience” seems like a distortion of both, because inherently “at one’s convenience” means often something completely different.

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Haven’t found anything related to the kanji meaning that. Where’d you get that from?

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Isn’t the original meaning for 都 “capital” actually? As in the capital (Kyoto)?