I’ve been diving deeper into the kanji learning process and wanted to share some insights regarding the approach WaniKani takes towards teaching radicals, especially since through my research it seems like WaniKani omits fundamentally important aspects of kanji construction, in favour of its custom irreverent / quirky radical system.
Understanding Kanji Through Radicals
WaniKani is fantastic at breaking down kanji into manageable parts using radicals. This method helps us remember the shapes and meanings of kanji more effectively. However, I’ve noticed that the platform doesn’t always delve into the historical or etymological significance of these radicals. For example, the radical 「月」 is taught as “moon” or “month,” but it also serves as the “flesh” or “body” radical in many kanji. This aspect isn’t covered, yet it’s crucial for understanding the deeper meaning and formation of various kanji.
Examples of Kanji with the 「月」 (Flesh or Body) Radical
Here are some examples where 「月」 represents “flesh” or “body”:
胸 (きょう) - Chest
Meaning: Chest or bosom.
脚 (きゃく) - Leg
Meaning: Leg or foot.
腕 (うで) - Arm
Meaning: Arm.
腰 (こし) - Waist
Meaning: Waist or lower back.
腹 (はら) - Belly
Meaning: Belly or abdomen.
腸 (ちょう) - Intestines
Meaning: Intestines.
脳 (のう) - Brain
Meaning: Brain.
肺 (はい) - Lung
Meaning: Lung.
肝 (かん) - Liver
Meaning: Liver.
膝 (ひざ) - Knee
Meaning: Knee.
Each of these kanji includes the 「月」 radical in the sense of “flesh,” which directly relates to parts of the body or bodily functions. This kind of etymological knowledge can enhance our understanding and retention of kanji.
Why This Matters
Understanding the dual nature of radicals can significantly deepen our comprehension of kanji. While WaniKani’s mnemonic approach is incredibly effective, adding historical and etymological context could provide a more rounded learning experience. For example, knowing that 「月」 can mean “flesh” or “body” can help us make connections between kanji more intuitively.
Looking Ahead
I’m curious to hear your thoughts on this! Have you come across other examples where knowing the etymology or alternative meanings of radicals has helped you? Perhaps WaniKani could consider integrating more of these insights into their lessons in the future.
Actually it is not “dual meaning” of the same radical, but two different radicals.
In “modern” usage (well, it is like that for some centuries already) they look the same, but it used to be different (and they do look different in some styles/typefaces).
Note how in all your exemples it comes in the left side. That one is called 月扁(つきへん) (all radical names ○へん are left side radical), or also 肉月(にくづき, flesh-moon, to emphasize its origin: it is just a stretched version of 肉 actually).
They look just the same, like in most typefaces 0 and O (digit zero and latin letter o) look the same too.
In classical kanji radical classification you had to look for 肺 under 肉、 not under 月.
EDIT: out of curiosity I looked at the Unicode list, and indeed some 月へん are listed after 肉 and some after 月, that is they were attributed Unicode code points based on their etymology and not only their (modern) shape.
… then, I came across this one, that I completely didn’t expect: 朒 !
There’s a keisei script that’s useful to avoid missing phonetic components.
For semantic components it’s often not quite as useful unfortunately, but there are certainly some that are worth paying attention to: 肉/月 for organs like you pointed out. 疒 health-related concepts. 火 in various forms for heat.
Well that was a mental image I didn’t particularly need this morning.
Mostly because you ain’t saying anything that hasn’t been said in many threads before, so he figured it’d be better to directly address misconceptions you seem to have.
It’s kinda just a thing that WaniKani does - even when the radicals are not as identical as the moon and the “flesh-moon” radicals. For example, 夂 and 攵 are both lumped under 夂, even though they have different numbers of strokes.
Well in this one, at least, WaniKani has improved - the 灬 radical, a variant of 火, used to be called “fish legs”. That it frequently shows up in kanji that refer to heating was apparently a complete coincidence. It’s now called “boil”.
Well in OP’s defence WaniKani often seems to go out of its way to obfuscate these things, so it’s not too surprising that many newcomers experience an eureka moment when they realize that 月 is no moon!
Wait til you find out some of wanikani’s radicals aren’t real radicals.
Feel like you started it with the lecture on what radicals REALLY mean, as if you’re probably the first person in wanikani history to discover that. Thanks for informing all us ignorant sheep.
And I wouldn’t have said anything at all, just moved on, except your smart-assy comeback is just too much.
You speak as if the forum is a collection of 住民. Saying nothing is also an option. There is infinite cyberspace. The psychology of the “its already been discussed internet dictator” is fascinating.
I’m too lazy to check right now, but I’m sure in one of the fleshy vocab they mention 月 can be used for body parts. Maybe in 肺 or 腕? It’s probably not mentioned in all of them though. I’ll have to check later
In my current cycle of Wanikani vocab that’s cropping up there are OBESE and SHOULDER, which after reading what you wrote i realise have the 月 radical as well
From some of the messages it seems that I wrongly conveyed my intent on my post.
English isn’t my first language, maybe I used some wrong word or verb.
I think having discovered the “hidden” 肉月 is great (particularly as in computerized texts rendering it is well hidden).
I just wanted to kindly share some extra info about it.
Guys, guys! I just got it! Kanji was actually borrowed from China, and in Mandarin Chinese it’s called hanzi. Wow, very similar isn’t it? Hanzi and kanji, two words that sound almost the same. And yet even Japanologists had not realised this connection until today.
. Bye.