The Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation has announced Japan’s kanji of the year. <\/p>\n
This is used to write the Japanese word for “love.” <\/p>\n
With 4,109 of the total of 85,322 votes, 爱 beat out the character in second place, 改 (reform), by nearly two to one. <\/p>\n
I’ve always particularly enjoyed the first part of the etymology of this character: <\/p>\n
\nThe top was once 旡 jì<\/span> ‘belch’, for obscure reasons; it has become 爫 (zhǎo<\/span>) ‘hand’ plus 冖 (mì<\/span>) ‘cover’. Below are 心 (xīn<\/span>) ‘heart’ and 夂 (zhǐ<\/span>) ‘walk slowly’ (a foot pointing down). <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
(Please remember not to confuse the etymology of a Chinese character with the etymology of the word its used to represent; they’re not the same thing.)<\/p>\n
Some opponents of simplified characters are particularly annoyed that the simplified form of this character, 爱, omits the “heart” element and inserts “friend” (友 \/ yǒu<\/span>) as the base. But as far as I know, no one has objected lately to the removal of “belch.” <\/p>\n
traditional vs. simplified:<\/p>\n
愛 爱<\/div>\nsource: ２００５年「今年の漢字」応募集計結果発表<\/a>, December 13, 2005.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation has announced Japan’s kanji of the year. 爱 This is used to write the Japanese word for “love.” With 4,109 of the total of 85,322 votes, 爱 beat out the character in second place, 改 … Continue reading