名前空間

namae kuukan

namespace

a literal translation. very weird. normally, Japanese would import a technology term like this into katakana, as ne-mu supe-su, but for some reason this was kanji-fied...

一意

iti'i

unique

didn't think this compound would mean this...

感嘆符

wakkanhu

exclamation point!

依怙贔屓

eko hi'iki

favoritism, bias, prejudice

僭越

sen'etu

arrogant, overbearing

翻弄

honrou

make fun of, trifle with, make a joke of

委ねる

yudaneru

to entrust to

忌憚

kitan

modesty

和気藹々

waki'ai'ai

abundantly peaceful, relaxing

啀み合い

igami'ai

snarling, growling, arguing, fighting, at each others' throats

快く

kokoroyoku

cheerfully, willingly, with an easy heart, comfortable, good-heartedly

癒着

yutyaku

adhesion, collusion

collusion itself is a cool word. I think it's from the Latin for 'playing together'... =)

蔑視

bessi

contempt, derision, discriminatory attitude

蔑ろ

naigasiro

a slight, or minor insult

翳す

kazasu

to lord it over someone

見切り発車

mikiri hassya

a rash decision

literally, the train leaves without seeing if everyone's on board...

裁量労働制

sairyou roudousei

literally, discretionary labor system

commonly known as flextime!

野放図

nohoudu

unregulated

叱責

sisseki

rebuke, reprimand

恣意

si'i

arbitrariness, selfishness

cool word to know

黎明

reimei

dawn, dawning

a beautiful image. literally, the darkness grows bright

筈

hazu

expectation, nook

I hadn't realized there was a kanzi for this word...

範疇

hantyuu

category

that second character is pretty rare. it can refer to a companion, or an equivalency, yet, literally, its components mean 'rice field' at left and 'long life and good fortune' on the right...

逐語

tikugo

literal, word-for-word

孕む

haramu

to become pregnant

I don't know why, but I've never encountered this verb before...

落丁

rakutyou

missing pages

末梢神経

massyou sinkei

peripheral nerves

噺

hanasi

words, conversation

BTW, this character is unique to Japanese.

石膏

sekkou

plaster-of-paris, alabaster, gypsum

石榴石

zakuro'ishi or sekiryuuseki

garnet

literally, a pomegranate stone. very cool.

晒す

sarasu

to expose to the air, to bleach

隠蔽

inpei

cover-up, concealment, obfuscation

隠喩

in'yu

metaphor

I just like these characters...

恰も

atakamo

as if, as if it were

毟り取る

musiritoru

to extract, pluck off, tear off, rip off

解れる

hotureru

become frayed or loosed, disheveled

手に負えない

te ni oenai

uncontrollable, unmanageable

頻りに

sikiri ni

frequently, often

悲壮慷慨

hisou kougai

get this: angrily singing a tragic song

all that in four characters... wow!

逆鱗に触れる

gekirin ni hureru

to infuriate a superior officer (I love that there is a saying specific to this situation)

literally, to touch upon the Imperial wrath

売名行為

baimei kou'i

publicity stunt, actions undertaken solely to draw attention to oneself

同胞

douhou

brethren, compatriots, fellow countrymen

授かる

sazukaru

to be blessed with, to receive, to be awarded, to be given

末裔

matu'ei

descendants

点在

tenzai

to be dotted with

看取る

mitoru

to care for the sick

枚挙に暇がない

maikyo ni itoma ga nai

too numerous to count

literally, there wouldn't be time to list them

突拍子も無い

toppyousi mo nai

outrageous, extraordinary, out-of-tune

強ち

anagati

not necessarily

奇形

kikei

birth defect

literally, strange form

仕草

sigusa

behavior, gesture, action

another interesting one. why is the character for grass in here?

畔

hotori

alongside, on the banks of, beside (a body of water)

麓

fumoto

the base of a mountain.

interesting character. combines radicals signifying trees and deer...

蝨潰し

sirami tubusi

carefull, individually, one by one

the literal translation, louse crushing, is somewhat similar in conceptual etymology to English's 'with a fine-toothed comb', which, of course, was used to get rid of lice...

隈なく

kuma naku

everywhere, high and low, every nook and cranny

literally, with no corners left, i.e., with every hiding place checked.

清廉潔癖

seiren keppeki

upright, steadfast, fastidious, straight as an arrow

村八分

mura hatibu

ostracism

curious. I'd like to know the etymology of this. it literally means 'village-eight-parts', and the last two characters alone, 八分, can refer to casting out, or in a more modern use, delisting, such as a Google八分, which would refer to a website being censored or no longer listed on Google. there's also a sense that refers to moderation... curious.

災い

wazawai

calamity, catastrophe

誹謗

hibou

slander!

公明正大

koumeiseidai

aboveboard, impartial, fair

literally, 'public-bright-correct-large'... I smell an ancient proverb somewhere...

also interesting to note that the first two characters, 公明, are the name of the political party established by the founder of the 創価学会 (souka gakkai, literally, the values-creation study group), one of Japan's so-called new religions, the notorious war profiteer and black marketer, Daisaku Ikeda...

靄

moya

haze, mist

繙く

himotoku

to read, peruse, glance at

from the other way of writing this verb, 紐解く, literally, 'cord-untying', it seems that the original sense of this verb relates to a time when written materials were all on scrolls, and therefore had to be untied to be read. as Spock would say, fascinating!

然るべき

sikaru beki

appropriate, fitting

more of a written language phrase...

嘆願書

tangansyo

a written petition

literally, 'grievous sigh-request-writing'...

血沈

kettin

erythrocyte sedimentation rate

literally, 'blood-sinking'

昏睡

konsui

comatose

禁忌

kinki

taboo

凍傷

tousyou

frostbite

悉に

tubusa ni

in great detail

散文的

sanbunteki

prosaic, prose-like, in a prose style

I love the fact that the characters for prose literally mean 'scattered text'...

蝕む

musibamu

to eclipse, cover over, to occult

監獄

kangoku

prison

the second character is used more commonly in the compound for hell:

地獄 zigoku

謳歌

ouka

song of praise, eulogy, glorification

心中

sintyuu

true motives

but what I found interesting was that these same characters, when read sindyuu instead, mean:

lovers' suicide...

奇しくも

kusikumo

mysteriously

奇異

ki'i

odd, strange

次亜塩素酸ソーダ

zi'a'ensosan souda

sodium hypochlorite

自ずと

onozuto

naturally

this threw me at first because the first character is often used in compounds meaning 'self'...

阿多福風邪

otahuku kaze

mumps

Hiro brought this up this morning, said there was an out break in Vancouver. I had never heard the Japanese for it, so I looked it up.

otahuku refers to one of the masks traditionally used in Noh (and now omnipresent as a Japanese souvenir) of a young woman's face with very plump cheeks. Since one of the symptoms of mumps is a swelling of the submaxillary lymph glands and of the cheeks, the Japanese name makes a lot of visual sense. Of course, kaze can refer to any viral infection, and by itself can mean a cold or influenza.

綿密

menmitu

careful, detailed, precise, scrupulous

其れ故

soreyue

therefore (much more written language than spoken)

論証

ronsyou

proof, demonstration

目指

mokusi

aim at, turn a spotlight on

定位

tei'i

orientation, or oriented, as in problem-oriented, which would be 問題定位的 (mondaitei'iteki)

見解

kenkai

point-of-view, opinion

媒介

baikai

intermediary

従事

zyuuzi

to be active in, involved with, pursuing...

珍客

tinkyaku

a welcome guest

驚嘆

kyoutan

surprise, wonderment, awe

石碑

sekihi

this is one of those words where I knew what it was without knowing the word for it, and then when I looked it up, the word I wanted didn't come out...

the dictionary says 'stone monument' and sure enough, that's true.

the concept I had fixed on first was 'plinth' for some reason, but a plinth is just the stone base for a column, usually... then there was 'menhir' but menhirs are rarely carved, and as much as I love that menhir delivery man, Obelix, I decided that 'stela' was more appropriate.

葛藤

kattou
conflict

the more commonly used word for conflict is 紛争 hunsou, but I love this word because it literally means kudzu-wisteria. you envision those two plants trying to choke each other out. a brilliant metaphor!

余儀なくされる

yogi naku sareru
to be forced to do something against your will

在来

zairai
pre-existing

理論

riron
theory
I'm always confusing this with
理論
ronri
logic

and
倫理
rinri
ethics

sigh...

脆弱

seizyaku
frail, brittle, vulnerable

偏在

henzai
uneven distribution, biased distribution

行脚

angyo
pilgrimage
(I never would have guessed the reading for this...)

昇華

syouka
sublimation
I suspect this word also has a Buddhist meaning... the characters literally mean 'rising-flower'...

圃場

hozyou
cultivated land

溜池灌漑

tame'ike kangai
reservoir irrigation (used in farming)

ディスカッサント

a discussant
I admit, I had no idea that this word existed in English. Apparently we have a word that means one who participates in a discussion.

気風

kifuu
ethos, character

伝播

propagation, transmission, relay

(the reading of the second character threw me for a loop. I thought it would be han or ban; it turned out to be pa!)

小作

tenant farmer

家父長制

patriarchal authority
literally, house-father-head-system...
interesting...

温存

preserve, retain

是正

revision, correction

是認

approval