Kanji 語 — "Language"
Here is what 語 means, how it is read, what it is built from, and a story that makes "Language" stick.
How it is read
ご
the reading borrowed from Chinese — usually appears in compound words
かた.る, かた.らう
the native Japanese reading — usually appears when the kanji stands alone
How to remember it
Kanji are not random strokes. Learn the parts and the whole becomes easy. Put the parts together into one picture. The stranger it is, the harder it is to forget.
If Five Mouths want to communicate using Say, they need to share the same Language!
- 言 Say
The 4 strokes coming out of the mouth represent the sound that is Speech.
- 五 Five
Ever watched anime or Japanese movies? When they count, they use this character and draw one stroke at a time to count all Five strokes. But actually when writing it, you only make 4 strokes. Don't be fooled!
- 口 Mouth
This square shape is a Mouth. When you see it, think of a mouth. It's a mouth that's wide open, telling you something.
Words that use 語
12 of 24 words in the app that contain this kanji — the most common ones first.
- 英語 えいご English
- 語彙 ごい vocabulary, glossary
- 物語 ものがたり tale, story, legend
- 語句 ごく words, phrases
- 日本語 にほんご the Japanese language
- 語る かたる to talk, to tell, to recite (v.t.)
- 敬語 けいご honorific language (lit., respect language)
- 単語 たんご word, vocabulary
- 国語 こくご national language
- 物語る ものがたる to tell, to indicate (v.t.)
- 言語 げんご language
- 用語 ようご term, terminology
Want 語 to still be there next month?
Reading it once is not remembering it. The app brings each kanji back right before you would have forgotten it.
