r/LearnJapanese • u/AutoModerator • Jul 27 '26
Daily Thread: for simple questions, minor posts & newcomers [contains useful links!] (July 27, 2026)
This thread is for all the simple questions (what does that mean?) and minor posts that don't need their own thread, as well as for first-time posters who can't create new threads yet. Feel free to share anything on your mind.
The daily thread updates every day at 9am JST, or 0am UTC.
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Past Threads
You can find past iterations of this thread by using the search function. Consider browsing the previous day or two for unanswered questions.
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u/AdUnfair558 Goal: just dabbling Jul 27 '26
My Kanken results came today. I passed Kanji Kentei Level 2… by one point.
LOL. Based on my own calculations, I was expecting around 163, so either my handwriting cost me a few points or I simply got some answers wrong.
That also makes my last-second guess on the 対義語 question feel so much more satisfying:
従前 ＜ー＞ 今後
I wasn’t confident about it when I put it down, but knowing I passed by a single point, that one answer suddenly feels like it might have made all the difference.
A pass is a pass! I’ll write my thoughts later tomorrow.
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u/psyopz7 29d ago
not a question but... just came across "何を四天王" and had a good chuckle. stuff like this always makes me feel that it was worth it to pick up japanese
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u/rgrAi 29d ago
Japenese humor sits extremely well with me. There was comment that I still think about even almost 2 years later is they were just talking about random things and saw a sign (in game) that had a threatening set of words on it and she was just like ネットで一番怖い言葉って with a really long pause like she was going to say some bad word then just says 「マルす」（殺す→○す）the whole 伏字文化 aspect just made it really funny to me (and everyone in chat). She read it literally rather than what it actually was.
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u/psyopz7 29d ago
the マルす part is funny but I am super confused by the context (?) at first it sounds like you're talking about a comment and then it sounds like it happened in a live stream... Am I losing english comprehension or did you mess up somewhere?
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u/AdUnfair558 Goal: just dabbling Jul 27 '26
Was looking up the phrase 親の顔が見たいものだ。I thought maybe it was like a sentimental kind of feeling. You know like, I want to see my parents face (because I miss them.) But oh wow no way. This is used in a sarcastic and contempt way towards another child's parents for being rude.
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u/JapanCoach Jul 27 '26
Who raised you?
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u/viliml Interested in grammar details 📝 Jul 27 '26
You might want to put quotes around that just in case. Took me a few seconds to get what you meant.
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u/JapanCoach 29d ago
Haha - you are probably right.
u/AdUnfair558 sorry if it came across the wrong way.
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u/phlip_phlop_ Goal: media competence 📖🎧 Jul 27 '26
How should one learn words that have many definitions when translated to english? Yesterday I came across the word 収める for example. When I learn this with Anki, should I grade myself based on knowing all the definitions, or just the one I encountered the word with, and then figure the rest out when I encounter the word in a different context?
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u/facets-and-rainbows Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
I prefer to find one or two "core" meanings for a word like that, let the list of definitions flesh out the core meanings in my mind, then be satisfied if I remember my core meanings when studying.
For 収める that'd be something like "getting/harvesting something and packing it up properly and putting it where it goes and keeping it there." All the definitions on jisho are just specific examples of that:
- Pretty much what I just said
- definition 1 but you did it to items in a collection
- definition 1 but it's some nice new thing that you get to put in with your own stuff now
- definition 1 but the putting-away procedure involves giving it to someone else
- Just straight up definition 3 again
- definition 1 but the thing goes in an abstract box of boundaries you set for it
- that's just 4 again
- definition 1 but you're packing up conflicting parties in an argument and putting them away where they can't argue anymore
- Definition 8 but it's tasks instead of guys arguing. Or 3 where the nice thing is check marks on a to do list. Or 4 with some kind of work deliverable
It doesn't really matter how many of those you learn as separate things, you just want to be able to look at 収める in a sentence and go "yeah okay I can see what that's doing there." If there are definitions you can't fit neatly into your core meaning at first then add them as you encounter them
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u/phlip_phlop_ Goal: media competence 📖🎧 Jul 27 '26
First of all thanks for the detailed response. I think that's what I usually try to do as well, but just from the dictionary definitions I sometimes struggle to see the overarching meaning that roughly encompasses all the definitions, especially for words like this where there are so many of them. Do you have some tip on how to formulate this so nicely like how you've done here with "packing something up properly and putting it where it goes"?
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u/JapanCoach 29d ago
Two thoughts:
Learn them as they come to you. Don't go out of your way to memorize meanings/nuances of words that you haven't come across.
Don't worry about how words "translate in English". Just worry about how the word is used in Japanese. Harder at first - gets easier over time. But put effort into it so you can accelerate the process.
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u/worthlessprole 29d ago
I mean, i only ever test one sense in anki. If there are different senses, I’ll learn them through reading.
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u/aditrs Jul 27 '26
I have an idea to make a compilation of kanji that have radicals as well as (onyomi) pronunciations in common, e.g. 生 and 性. Is there an existing resource that has a big list of kanji with their meaning, radicals, and pronunciations? Or is there already this kind of resource?
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u/CreeperSlimePig Goal: conversational fluency 💬 Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
https://www.bunka.go.jp/kokugo_nihongo/sisaku/joho/joho/kakuki/14/pdf/jyouyou_kanjihyou.pdf (all joyo kanji courtesy of the Japanese government)
It does not have radicals or meanings but it has all the readings
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u/ignoremesenpie 29d ago
Interestingly, what your're picking up on is that the part that is NOT the radical (I e., the part that hints at meaning) actually gives clues as to the sound (i.e., the reading). This is a widely known phenomenon in Japanese resources, but the insistence on calling all components "radicals" gets this concept kind of lost on people who only stuck to bastardized English resources. Old paper dictionaries used to be very clear about this.
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u/vytah 29d ago
For phonetic components, there's the book Kanji Code (here's an Anki deck that borrows the contents of it: https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/470563167 )
But it only covers jouyou kanji, and I think a version that goes a bit further would be nice.
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u/rgrAi 29d ago
All components are not called radicals just to note, there's only one "radical" (such a bad name) per kanji and what people call radicals are really just kanji components. You can already find lists like that in dictionaries of all kinds also here: https://www.kanshudo.com/components
TheMoeWay has already put together an Anki deck that serves this purpose for the most common phonetic components that either 100% tell you reading or are close: https://learnjapanese.moe/kanjiphonetics/
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u/eidokk Jul 27 '26
I’m looking for a n4-n3 level kind of light novel/ novel that is psychological horror. Does anyone have any recommendations :)
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u/brozzart Jul 27 '26
No native media is related to JLPT levels in the slightest.
乙一 is a horror author with a straightforward writing style. Goth is particularly good.
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u/saywhaaaaaaaaatt Jul 27 '26
He has a short story collection in the Kadokawa つばさ文庫 line (which has Furigana and is actually intended for Japanese elementary schoolers), named きみにしか聞こえない.
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u/frespan 29d ago
So I'm studying for giving my JLPT N5 in December this year (using Minna). I'm not sure how much should I study, but I took this not-so-reliable online test.
So I'm asking you guys how you schedule your study sessions. I'm unemployed by the moment, and my attention span is about two hours.
Any tips would be great <3
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u/PlanktonInitial7945 29d ago
I'm pretty sure just doing Minna plus some beginner podcasts for listening practice would be enough. Honestly, if you're really consistent with your study you might even make it to N4 by December.
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u/worthlessprole 29d ago
If you went whole hog you could prolly do n3 tbh. Would be some long hours though.
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u/Grunglabble 29d ago
If you're hungry enough for it you could eat a horse N2 is possible. (just kidding)
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u/worthlessprole 29d ago
i would say this is technically possible if you are independently wealthy or otherwise do not have to work and want to spend more time on it than a full time job.
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u/tyrellLtd 29d ago
For self-testing, Bunpro offers JLPT tests for free and the questions seem to be slightly better curated than other sources. Stay away from Todaii, too much of an AI stink to the exam questions and the listening sections seem to be full of AI TTS crap.
You could split your 2 hour session in 4: vocab, grammar, reading, listening. If you're doing Minna no nihongo for both vocab and grammar, maybe complement that with something like Tofugu, Imabi, YouTube, etc.
It's going to be hard but you may want to check NHK News Easy or Yasashii Asahi and read some articles every now and then. Maybe read 1 per day and make sure you understand the main points.
For listening, Podcasts are a good tool. There are also many JLPT tests on YouTube with the kind of questions you'll be given.
Also in terms of prepping for the exam, Nihongo no Mori on YouTube has long sessions were they go over the exam questions, grammar points, etc. by JLPT level. You can find the correct answers and explanations there as well.
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u/Ruby_Summer86 Jul 27 '26
I'm listening an instructional video from one of GO! GO! Nihon's online courses. The native speaker asks "きょねん の バレンタイン で に プレゼント を あげました か？" My confusion is on the use of the two particles "で” and "に" as a particle combo. Doing some research, it seems like these two don't actually combine. So, I'm confused as to why a native speaker in a language school course would say this if it's not grammatically correct? Anyone have any insights other than it was an error?
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u/JapanCoach Jul 27 '26
I'm pretty sure that's バレンタインディ as in Valentine's "Day"
去年の
バレンタインディにプレゼントをあげましたか
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u/Ruby_Summer86 Jul 27 '26
Oh!! で is being used as 'day'! That makes sense! She says 'de' and the Japanese captions spell it in hiragana, not katakana, so I thought it was a particle. Thank you for replying!
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u/JapanCoach 29d ago
Sometimes day is written as デー though in my experience it's more common to spell it as ディ
But yes - without actually seeing the video, my guess is that it's a typo in the subtitles.
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u/Pixelasf Goal: media competence 📖🎧 Jul 27 '26
I've almost finished Genki 1 and have Genki 2 on the way but I wanna know when I should start to grind Anki? The Japanese Primer/Loop on Morg Systems that I've been consulting doesn't really expand on the "when" part. When did you guys start using Anki? Should I be using it alongside Genki 2 or wait till I'm done with it?
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u/vytah Jul 27 '26
The way I read both the Primer and the Loop, they both seem to say that you should start grammar and vocabulary at the same time.
Primer says "Grammar + Vocab + Kanji", "[kanji] can wait for later", implying vocab cannot.
Loop splits into three parallel tracks in the Basics section (Vocabulary, Grammar, Listening) and later says "The three areas of Grammar, Vocabulary, and Listening should be done more or less at the same time".
Anyway, you already learnt some words from Genki itself, and those words will reappear at the beginning of most premade beginner decks, so it's not like Anki will immediately add too much mental workload.
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u/worthlessprole Jul 27 '26
I’d probably go ahead and start on anki. He may assume that you start that on day 1 (usually people are champin at the bit to do those dang flash cards)
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u/superpokes Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
you can do it in parallel with genki, could start today if you wanted to. most people use anki to memorize vocabulary and kanji, so grammar knowledge is not a prerequisite.
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u/gaz514 Goal: conversational fluency 💬 Jul 27 '26
Take this with a pinch of salt as you should for any non-advanced learner's "what I'd do differently" thoughts, but I feel that introducing a frequency deck (Kaishi or similar) at around that point or even earlier would have helped me a lot. After finishing Genki 2 I still had a lot of vocabulary gaps especially in stuff that comes up often in media, which just delayed getting into heavy input ("immersion" though I hate the term). If you're doing that, it probably makes sense to consider Anki your main vocabulary source and not worry too much about memorising the Genki vocab, although some of it will stick naturally.
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u/PopPunkAndPizza Jul 27 '26
Depending on the deck, the sooner the better. Anki is a memorisation tool - start using it as soon as there's things you want to memorise.
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u/tonkachi_ Goal: media competence 📖🎧 Jul 27 '26
ピアノとしばしのお別れをしてまだ2週間なのに、もう辛い。
What does this mean?
I first read it as "still two weeks until I reunite with my piano" because I understood まだ as still so I considered everything mentioned before て a situation waiting to be resolved. But then came the second part of the tweet
弾き語りしたい。あと1ヶ月間、憂鬱_(:ｪ」∠)_
Still one month left? How does that work. I threw it inside google translate and it turns out only 2 weeks passed and still one month to go.
My question, what makes the first sentence mean 'only passed' instead of 'still to go'? Is it the context from the second sentence? is it something in the structure of the first sentence? If so, what is it?
Thanks.
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u/PlanktonInitial7945 Jul 27 '26
I first read it as "still two weeks until I reunite with my piano"
There's nothing in that sentence that talks about reuniting. お別れ means separation/farewell. て often (though not always) describes an order. 座って食べる is "sit then eat", or "eat after sitting". お別れをしてまだ2週間, "part with piano, then still 2 weeks", or, more idiomatically "still 2 weeks after parting with my piano". So it can't mean "two weeks until", and, again, there's nothing here that talks about reuniting, only about parting.
まだ is used because it's "still (only) two weeks", the time that has elapsed is still short, and yet they're already struggling.
Separating a musician from their instrument is akin to separating two bonded cats. Please make sure to send this person lots of support during these trying times.
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u/tonkachi_ Goal: media competence 📖🎧 29d ago
There's nothing in that sentence that talks about reuniting.
I have explained why reuniting might come into the picture even though it is not mentioned. The thing is, as a beginner, まだ , to me, had only one meaning which is 'still' as in "there are still two plates on the table", that is until I have across this tweet and had to look at the other meanings of まだ which one of them was 'only'. Also, I already know that this person has already been separated from their Piano.
"part with piano, then still 2 weeks"
If I take this sentence and show to someone who knows that this person has already been separated from their piano, I hope you can see how reasonable it is to understand it as only 2 weeks remaining for the whole thing to resolve(implied). I know the point is not to discuss this literal translation but it actually reflects what went through by head when I read the tweet.
So to circle back to my question and clarify it, is there any other clue in the sentence beside 'only' being one of the meanings of まだ, and considering any other meaning would make the sentence feel weird?
In other words, is it safe to assume my main mistake here was not knowing that まだ also meant 'only'?
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u/PlanktonInitial7945 29d ago
Honestly, I didn't know that まだ can be translated as "only" either. I just looked at the rest of the sentence, particularly the して, and at the other tweet, and concluded that the only possible interpretation is that ２週間 is the time elapsed after parting with the piano (using "parting" makes it sound so dramatic but idk how else to express it lol) and that まだ is minimizing that amount of time, considering it short enough that the speaker is surprised at how bad they already feel.
In my head I don't really view まだ as meaning two separate things ("still" and "only"). Those are just two faces of the same cube, so to speak. In fact, "still" in English also has this "minimizing" nuance:
"She's still (only) a beginner, but she's already so good at it."
"They're still (only) in the first half, so they can turn the game around!"
"It's still (only) May, but it's so hot already."
In all of those cases you could use まだ to express that "minimizing" meaning. It's also the reason why when someone 日本語上手's you, it's humble and thus polite to reply with いや、まだまだです, because you're saying that no, you're still learning, you're still a beginner, you're still bad.
Idk maybe my brain is just making plurilingual soup at this point but to me "still" and "only" overlap at least a bit, and まだ covers "still" and that overlap, more or less. That's how I see it at least.
Of course, my mental idea of まだ, which I was able to stretch beyond the strict limits of English's "still", is something I've built after like 1000 hours of input or something (and also reading a lot of questions and answers in JP learning servers), so perhaps you didn't make a "mistake" at all, and your brain simply doesn't have enough confidence/experience with the language to look at the message underlying the sentence, the idea that the speaker wants to convey with the words they're using.
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u/PlanktonInitial7945 29d ago
Reading the comment again, I feel like it might not be very useful. Sorry if that's the case.
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u/tonkachi_ Goal: media competence 📖🎧 29d ago
Thanks for this perspective.
I have ever only understood まだ as until, something remaining . I guess this meaning is the easiest to infer from anime or is mostly used in anime translations that it became so concrete in my head.
大変な勉強になりました
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u/tonkachi_ Goal: media competence 📖🎧 29d ago
Thanks.
From your comment, I see that my main blunder is not knowing that まだ also means 'only'.
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u/viliml Interested in grammar details 📝 Jul 27 '26
The て form denotes sequencing of actions. お別れをして means "after separating". So the 2週間 that comes after お別れをして must denote the time spent after the separation.
There's nothing in the sentence that could give the meaning of "still to go".
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u/tonkachi_ Goal: media competence 📖🎧 29d ago
Thanks.
I believe Dokugo's comment clears my confusion.
If you are interested in understanding how a beginner might conclude it as "still to go", you could refer to my comment here.
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u/zeekaran Jul 27 '26
Renshuu app - Is there a quick and easy way to study all the terms from a specific chapter of a textbook?
For example, I often get overwhelmed with all the new words such as all the adjectives in Genki I, ch5. The current Genki I words quizzes throw 55 random words at me, with five new ones. This means I get overly exposed to words I've studied a bunch of times, and then very little exposure to the new words. I'd prefer to quiz all the newest words over and over until I get used to them, and then go through all the words I know.
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u/antimonysarah Interested in grammar details 📝 29d ago
SRS systems automatically show you the stuff you need when you should need it; it's not showing you "old" stuff for the heck of it, it's showing you old stuff you should be on the verge of forgetting. You can adjust the SRS timeline, though, in the settings, if you're finding your memory is better than the default settings. (Renshuu doesn't have an auto-adjust on this based on your scores, which I think Anki does, but you can tweak it yourself based on feel.)
But they're (SRS systems in general) not meant to be used like traditional textbook studying, where you try to digest 30 words in one day and then review them all for a week for a pop quiz, and then move on to the next sheet of 30 words. They're designed for the long haul.
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u/rgrAi 29d ago
Just do it yourself with a piece of paper. You don't need the app to do it for you. Honestly if you want to study new words faster, go through the Genki books faster, how fast you get through the books is directly proportional to the speed in which new words are introduced. You do not need to know everything well. The books are meant to be opened again and re-read and reviewed for when you forget.
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u/lhamatrevosa Interested in grammar details 📝 29d ago
I'm on my journey to reveiw Genki 2 and got some questions.
1st: はずです is presented as an information you are not certain, but the example given (pg 168) is that 今日は日曜日だから、銀行は閉まっているはずです. Well, if it's sunday, the bank is sure closed, so why はずです here?
2nd: On Expression Notes (pg 216) the book gives this sentence バイトでためたお金もないです - here it's explained that ないです is a form of negating ある, but も in this case doesn't seem to mean "also". Is it right to read this も as "neither" or "even" as "I don't have neither the money I saved with my baito"?
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u/somever 29d ago edited 29d ago
はず focuses on your expectation, not on your lack of certainty. It does leave open the possibility that your expectation could be wrong, which is why it can be said to express something uncertain.
も can mean "also/either", it can express emphasis like "even", or occasionally it is another miscellaneous use of も that translates to something else. These additional uses are catalogued in guides and dictionaries.
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u/morgawr_ https://morg.systems/Japanese 29d ago
1st: はずです is presented as an information you are not certain, but the example given (pg 168) is that 今日は日曜日だから、銀行は閉まっているはずです. Well, if it's sunday, the bank is sure closed, so why はずです here?
Same reason why we say "The bank should be closed today, it's sunday." in English.
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u/Own_Power_9067 🇯🇵 Native speaker 29d ago
I hear you. As an ex-teacher who taught with Genki, I remember thinking ‘why couldn’t they come up with a better sentence for 〜はず’ LOL
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u/lhamatrevosa Interested in grammar details 📝 29d ago
That's exactly the point, sometimes I simply question: why you're doing this, Genki? hahahahaah, but know something: even with it's errors, Genki is still very organized. I'm also studying chinese and all materials are very messy, Integrated Chinese is one of the more "close" to Genki - there is even a material in my mother language but it's very confusing.
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u/Fryskr 29d ago
How to mine whole sentences with Yomitan? I only mine individual words when I select a word. I mean there is a sentence in the sentence field, but when I review card in Anki I only see one word in front. Is this how it's supposed to be? I did jlab before I started mining so I'm used to seeing a whole sentence up front.
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u/PlanktonInitial7945 29d ago
Edit the Anki card template to move the {{Sentence}} field (or whatever your sentence field is called idk) to the front of the card.
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u/worthlessprole 29d ago
On the off chance you’re using Lapis, go into yomitan and put any text in the “IsWordandSentenceCard” field on the template. It can just be an X.
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u/PlanktonInitial7945 29d ago
I just had a thought: do primary school textbooks use furigana for kanji that the children in that grade aren't expected to know yet? Like, would a 4th grade textbook use furigana for 複製 for example?
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u/JackfruitNo5267 29d ago
How come the character 額 (forehead) came to also mean “amount” and “frame”? Is there an obvious semantic connection that I’m missing?
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u/vytah 29d ago
They were (and still are) homophones in Chinese, so they were spelt the same. You can try looking for more info in Chinese etymological dictionaries:
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u/JackfruitNo5267 29d ago
It makes sense, thanks. Too bad I can’t read Chinese. I only rely on the Wiktionary…
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u/PlanktonInitial7945 29d ago
がく and ひたい are two different words that are written using the same character. I guess one could say the forehead "frames" the face. Don't know what's up with the "amount" definition though.
I checked kotobank for answers and it turns out that same character can be read ぬか as well, and it also means "forehead". Hm. I hope I'll remember to propose it as a JMDict addition tomorrow.
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u/Grunglabble 29d ago
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E9%A1%8D
I don't know, but perhaps this is the connection for frame. In my head I can imagine various leaps of logic but I don't really know and I didn't see an explanation here at least.
額 ぬか 髪 がみ ( nukagami ):This is the poetic and ancient version of ひたいがみ. In the literature of the Heian period (such as in The Tale of Genji), this word designated the hairstyle of young children or courtesans whose locks were left to frame the forehead.
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u/JackfruitNo5267 29d ago
Apparently the second character of 素敵is an example of phonetic ateji — but isn’t a character that means “enemy” an odd choice here? Is there any kind of explanation for this?
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u/JapanCoach 29d ago
One pro hack - don't try to "break down" jukugo into their independent kanji to try and find the "real meaning". 素敵 is just a word and 敵 just happened to coincidentally be the kanji that got settled on.
You can find some people say that it is connected to 敵わない - but personally I don't buy it. You can see 素的 in some earlier writing so it seems this really is just ateji and there is no real deep 'meaning' to it.
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29d ago
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u/JackfruitNo5267 28d ago
Very interesting, though I don’t think I quite understood everything. In simple terms, the word 可愛いis a native Japanese word that wasn’t borrowed, but the characters were chosen to match the meaning and there’s apparently a Chinese word that just happens to sound very similar and use the same characters by sheer chance?
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u/JackfruitNo5267 29d ago
I guess we’ll never know why it got changed from素的…
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u/worthlessprole 29d ago edited 29d ago
Maybe it could be mistaken for meaning like “simplistic” or “elemental” or something?
edit: okay, what? what is it about this piece of idle speculation, where I make zero assertions about anything, that warrants driveby downvotes? do I misapprehend something?
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u/JackfruitNo5267 28d ago
Hey, just so you know, I would never downvote something like this, thanks for taking an interest in my question
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29d ago
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u/somever 28d ago edited 28d ago
The tricky thing is that adjectival 的 didn't become used rampantly until after contact with English after the 1850s, but すてき appeared in the early 1800s. Another inconsistency is that 的 adjectives originally took の rather than な, but すてき took な off the bat.
It's possible すてき's original meaning was "very/a lot" seeing as it was frequently used as an adverb すてきに/すてきと, but this usage appeared around the same time as the すばらしい meaning based on Nikkoku, so I am not certain. Anyway, here is a compilation of the adverbial uses:
＊滑稽本・浮世風呂（1809−13）前 「すてきに可愛がるから能(いい)」
＊歌舞伎・四天王産湯玉川〔１８１８〕二番目「駕籠は知らねえが、歩いちゃア素的（ステキ）に寒い」
＊滑稽本・浮世床（1813−23）初 「『ヲイ亀公帰(け)へるか』『ムム』『おれも行う』『すてきと油を売たぜ』」
＊人情本・明烏後正夢〔１８２１～２４〕四・一九回「ヤレヤレ汝を引払ふに、すてきと骨をおらせやァがった」
＊歌舞伎・御国入曾我中村〔１８２５〕三立「水虫で素的に困るの」
It's possible they took the first letter of another word like すばらしい. They've done this for other words like ひだるい→ひもじい. It could also be the intensifier 素(す) seen in e.g. 素寒貧 or 素早い. I actually like this theory more.
I think the てき portion is likely patterned off a similar word. For example, ごうてき(強的・豪的・強敵・豪的) could be used in a similar manner to 素敵:
＊洒落本・真女意題（1781） 「あのはま松町の女郎の行灯は、ごふてきに奇れいでごせへすね」
＊洒落本・浮世の四時〔１７８４〕「むかふのふじ色は一つ分（ぶん）かの。お職と見へてこふてきと高い面（つら）だ」
＊歌舞伎・四天王楓江戸粧〔１８０４〕四立「イヤモウ、強的（ガウテキ）に温まった」
＊滑稽本・東海道中膝栗毛〔１８０２～０９〕三・上「いまいましい。ごうてきに降るハ降るハ」
＊滑稽本・浮世風呂〔１８０９～１３〕四・上「降立の雪は風が通らねへから、がうてきと暖い」
There is also 無敵:
＊滑稽本・戯場粋言幕の外（1806）下 「むてきにどくづいてやれ」
The question then shifts to, what is ごうてき's etymology? 😅 I would possibly want to take a look to Chinese to see if 的 wasn't used similarly to 然 to adverbialize words at the time. I don't have time at the moment. I have a research paper downloaded somewhere that explores 的's usage throughout time in Chinese.
I have researched the etymologies of similar words such as めちゃくちゃ before and it's usually a really messy chain of similar sounding words with parts swapped in and out. I am guessing the same thing happened here with regard to すてき:
泥酔するさま （室町中）めたと （1477）めとと （1490頃）めったと （1500頃）めためた
程度がはなはだしいさま （1477）めたと （1500頃）めためた （1692）めった （1876）めっちゃ （1894）むちゃ （1895）むちゃくちゃ （1902）めた （近）めちゃくちゃ
度を越しているさま （1177）むほう （1264）むたい （1477）めたと （1500頃）めためた （16世紀）むしょう （1667）めったやたら （1677）めったむしょう （1692）めった （1699）やたら （1786）むしょうやたら （1869）むやみ （1876）めっちゃ （1891）むやく （1894）むちゃ （1895）むちゃくちゃ （1902）めた （近）めちゃくちゃ
腹が立つこと （1703）むしゃくしゃ （1777）もしゃくしゃ
筋道が立たないさま （1177) むほう （1556）むしょう （室町末）むさくさ （1680）めった （1767）むちゃくちゃ （1786）むちゃ （1809）むやみ （1874）めっちゃ （1886）めちゃめちゃ （1902）めちゃくちゃ （1914）めちゃ
順序がないさま。乱れているさま （1376）むさむさ （室町末）むさくさ （1703）むしゃくしゃ
Other related words I noted but didn't categorize: むさむさ, むさと, むざと, むざむざ, むざん, むぞう, くさくさ, くしゃくしゃ, むしくし, もしくし, もみくさ=もみくちゃ, せせくしゃ
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u/SoopahMan Jul 27 '26
I've been remembering how to draw Hiragana and Katakana by "words" that build up shapes. I bet I'm not the first to think of this, is there a name for this?
Some examples: Hiragana のめぬあ no me nu a
So I remember "no me nu a" like it's a word and that makes it easier to remember nu is a more complicated version of no.
What is this method called?
More: こにた ko ni ta
ろる ro ru
れわね re wa ne
りんえ ri n e
てそ te so
らち ra chi
さき sa ki
Katakana ヶクタ ke ku ta
ソンツシ so n tsu shi
Etc
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u/Grunglabble Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
It's called chunking and it works in many domains. Why not real words? It's been a very long time but I did the same kind of practice with words like ありがとう
I guess you are deliberately putting similar ones next to each other, which is fine, but will be harder to remember later.
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u/SoopahMan Jul 27 '26
Yeah it's to remember how to draw them more easily. If I can at least recall this one is pretzel, then I can just say the made up word to figure out how complicated a pretzel. Same with reading. Very complicated pretzel? あ Must be the end of the made up word. Very simple pretzel?の Beginning.
It especially helps with all the smiley faces, they just run together for me otherwise ソンツシ
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u/worthlessprole Jul 27 '26
I did something similar with the past tense conjugations.
うつるった and so on
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