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