I got to a lesson tonight that had the kanji 標 (signpost), and I don’t use this word in English. “Sign” is not listed as a synonym in Wanikani, and definitions of signpost online seem to say they can be the same thing or maybe the post that holds the sign is the signpost.
Why isn’t “sign” a synonym of “signpost?” And if these words don’t have the same meaning, can someone explain the difference? I think this might be a more British English thing?
I don’t want to add the “sign” synonym to the “signpost” entry in Wanikani myself if that’s not the actual meaning.
A ‘signpost’ is like a stop sign or something by the side of the road. A ‘sign’ could be all sorts of things, from a light in the sky to a post it note.
Kanji meaning is only useful in order to guess/remember the meaning of the words that use it. As such in those cases where you’re trying to decide if a kanji meaning is accurate or misleading, the best solution IMO is simply to look at the vocab using it and decide for yourself if you think that “sign” is the correct concept:
