★★★★★ 4 strokes PNPKJERK RADICALSYMBOLICCOUNTER Page 2★★★★☆ 12 strokes Page 3★★★★☆ 6 strokes Page 4★★★★★ 4 strokes Page 5★☆☆☆☆ 6 strokes Kanji: 月 Meaning: moon, month Reading: つき、ゲツ、ガツ (tsuki, getsu, gatsu) About the kanji: This kanji used to be a pictograph of the moon. It’s picture-character connection may have only lasted until the official seal style 添文(tenbun) was used for the last time when writing charaters. Right now, just the lower part of the kanji still has some connection with its original form. In addition, you will see this character being used more to represent the word “month” since months were calculated using lunar phases. Did you know? the word “month” in English originally comes from the old word “menon” in Gothic language which means “moon” Check out the origin of the kanji 日 in a GIF like this here Words using this kanji: 月曜日 ： Monday (”moon day”) 月給 ： monthly salary 月末 ： end of the month 月食： lunar eclipse 月面 ： moon’s surface 月光 ： moonlight Example sentence: 秋は月が美しい。 aki wa tsuki ga utsukushii The moon is beautiful in fall.
How many of you enjoy a good Sci-Fi story? Count me as one of you because when I was a kid, I was obsessed with shows like Star Wars, Gundam Wing, Aliens, and many more that I can’t even remember! In fact, I just finished watching an other amazing Science Fiction Anime called Outlaw Star just the other day! So what do all of these things have in common? They take place in outer space! And let me tell you, when you’re watching one of these kinds of shows and you think you see a moon, you might want to think again. “That’s no moon it’s a space station!” But speaking of moons and Japanese, why don’t we go over it and some of the other words that are related to the kanji. Read on to learn how to say moon in Japanese! That’s (actually) a MoonThe Japanese word for moon is 月 (tsuki) and the kanji for it is actually a pictograph of a crescent moon hidden behind the clouds (those two lines). Here is an illustration of it from inception, to its current kanji: The interesting thing about the moon kanji is how often it shows up in other kanji and brings the meaning or nuance of “night” to it. Let’s look at a few of them now:
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What’s also interesting is that when they “squared off” all of the kanji to make them fit better alongside one another on parchment, another kanji ended up looking exactly the same as moon! Do you know which one it is? Here is a hint: it’s used in the kanji for “to have; to exist (non-living)” 有る (aru). If you know some of the original meanings of the kanji, you will recognize the two lines in the top and left part of this kanji 有 represent a hand. And that part that looks like the “moon”, is actually the kanji for meat (like a nice t-bone steak). Hand + Meat = To Have. That “moon” radical in 有 is the smaller, radical version of the kanji 肉 (niku) which means “flesh; meat.” Even though it looks like the moon… But I guess it wouldn’t make any sense for it to be a hand holding the moon. Unless you were using that famous quote while trying to impress a girl… Moving on! Actually, before we move on, if any of you are interested in learning kanji by understanding their original meanings, then you might want to check out the book Read Japanese Today which I did a review on. It’s actually pretty cool. The Moon is Used to Tell TimeThe word for moon has several different pronunciations when it is used differently. Sometimes it’s in compound words, and other times it’s just a different meaning. Let’s take a look at some of the most common and useful ones. First of all, you’re going to need to know that the way you say it changes from つき (tsuki) to げつ (getsu) when 月 is used as a day of the week. Do you know which day it is? Here’s a hint: it’s the same as in English – believe it or not! [su_spoiler title=”Click To See The Answer”]Yep! It is 月曜日 (getsu yōbi) which is Monday! (moon’s day, day of the moon)[/su_spoiler] >More on the days of the Japanese week can be found by reading this post. Otherwise you should just know that it gets abbreviated to just 月曜 (getsu yō) most of the time when people are talking to one another. And when you see a calendar in Japanese, it will probably just have 月 on it to signify Monday. Of course, the most common way that the moon has been used to tell time throughout most (all?) of the world’s cultures is to signify a month. It makes sense, right? Back then they figured that the full moon showing up was a good way to tell time. You do what works, I guess. This is one area where Japanese is actually EASIER than English! I know, try not to pass out. In English, we have a fancy name for each and every month of the year. And the names don’t really make any sense unless you know the history of them and how one man’s vanity messed it all up. As an example, September is our ninth month, but the word Septem (which is where it comes from) means the number seven in Latin. Not the number nine… like the month… Ugh! ANYWAY!!! The Japanese were all like, “whatever, let’s just use basic numbers for our months.” Below are the months of the year in Japanese, starting in January and ending in December (of course). FYI, the kanji 月 changes pronunciation yet AGAIN for months! This time to がつ (gatsu).
Yeah, so those of you who know your Japanese numbers 1-10 can easily tell that this list of vocabulary just says “one month, two month, … … … ten month, ten-one month, ten-two month.” Seriously, I struggled with our months of the year in English when I was a kid. I could get from January to April no problem, but everything after that was a crap-shoot. If only it had been this easy!!! I know, I know: #FirstWorldProblems. Ahem! Some Vocabulary Using the MoonOf course that one dreaded weekday and all of the months are good words to know, but they were already listed above. Here’s some others for ya:
I just gotta say something about this last one. Am I crazy for thinking one paycheck a month is not often enough!? If it were up to me, I would get paid everyday! Make it rain! Also, here’s something that you’ll want to note: the counter for months is ヶ which looks like a small version of the Katakana ケ (ke), but it is actually different, and it is pronounced か (ka). So like, 二ヶ月 (ni ka getsu) would mean “two months” which you could use if you were telling someone how long you’ve been studying Japanese.
Phrasing it this way sounds a little more natural in Japanese than what you might think at first. Here’s each month and their pronunciation so that you can swap them in and out:
And here are the final two vocabulary words for you:
Hey! That last one went back to the kun’yomi for 月! — I think that’s a good place to end it for today. Just to sum it up, the three ways that you should know how to say moon in Japanese are:
What did you think? Did you learn something new? Are there any other great words that use 月 that you want to share with everyone? Join the conversation by leaving a comment below! |
What is Japanese kanji for moon?
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