A Three-for-One Deal
Saturday, August 11th, 2007
| Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary |
In last week’s blog, we saw how a single 中 can change “deep in the night” (夜中, yonaka) into “all night” (夜中中, yonakajū). Despite its simple shape, 中 packs quite a punch. And with 中, you get three suffixes for the price of one! That is, the suffix -中 has three meanings. As the meaning changes, so might the yomi. Let’s look at each meaning.
1. Period of Time: JŪ
Let’s say you have a compound expressing a period of time (a day, week, month, year, and so on). The suffix -中 (pronounced -JŪ) enables you to convey that something happened throughout that period of time. A few examples:
| 一日 (ichinichi: one day) | 一日中 (ichinichijū: all day long) |
| 今週 (konshū: this week) | 今週中 (konshūjū: throughout this week; konshūchū: within this week) |
| 一年 (ichinen: one year) | 一年中 (ichinenjū: all year round) |
On How Your Days Are Numbered …
For the most part, this table is straightforward. Even the breakdowns are self-explanatory. But there’s an exception to the pattern:
午前 (gozen: morning, 午前中 (gozenchū: all morning)
noon + before)
This compound refers to a period of time but atypically uses the yomi CHŪ. A mnemonic may help with this aberration:
All morning I chew.
Posted by Eve Kushner in Kanji Curiosity | 6 Comments »
