丁 came up in my WaniKani lesson and had a meaning of street. I checked it in the jisho.org and found out 丁 is a counter. 横丁 is the one I could find in jisho.org. Could anyone give me more information. I started studying Japanese a few months ago.
Gama
The meaning of 丁 that is relevant to the “street” meaning in Japanese is 町を区分した単位 (A unit of division of a town). For the purposes of addresses for buildings.
It’s kind of a loose correlation, because many places divide their towns up in ways that are unique to that particular country.
The word 丁目 uses the meaning 町を区分した単位 and in Japanese a 丁目 is usually more than one actual street, but other countries don’t divide their towns into 丁目.
In Japan, you don’t have a “street address” since most streets don’t have names. You have a number within some 丁目. So “street” is basically the same level of town unit as 丁目 for the purpose of addressing.
But feel free to add other words to 丁 if you feel you can remember those better.
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If only I’d had as clear an explanation as yours when I was trying to navigate certain Tokyo neighborhoods! The 丁目 system is a complete brain-wrinkler for me, coming from Canada. At least it’s a fun city to be lost in.
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Thank you. Now it made sense that 丁 means street in kanji vs the original meaning of the 丁 in Chinese.
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