The China Syndrome
Friday, August 17th, 2007
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In the last blog, we saw how -中 is a powerhouse of a suffix. For instance, adding -中 to 日本 (Nihon: Japan) gives us 日本中 (Nihonjū: all over Japan, throughout Japan). What emphasis -中 throws on a compound! With that in mind, here’s a quick quiz. What does 訪中 (hōchū) mean? One hint: 訪 (HŌ, tazu(neru)) means “to visit.”
Take some time to think…. Can you hear the Jeopardy music in the background?
OK, time’s up. It’s certainly tempting to interpret 訪中 as “throughout a visit.” But no, 訪中 produces a kanji gotcha! In this case, 中 means “China,” so 訪中 is a “visit to China”!
This raises a new question: Whenever 中 appears in a compound, does the character refer to China or not? Instinct can lead you astray in such matters; wild guesses prove to be just as accurate. Try your luck with some 中 compounds in the first Verbal Logic Quiz and see how it goes!
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Verbal Logic Quiz 1: Below you’ll find four pairs of inverted compounds. Because these pairs have identical ingredients, you might assume that they share meanings. But you’ve entered the crazy world of kanji, so you’ll need to dispense with anything like logic! Match the compounds with their meanings. Each lettered possibility matches a numbered compound … but which one? Some compounds have multiple definitions. To be efficient, I’ve defined the characters just once:
1. 中国 (chūgoku) 3. 中米 (chūbei) 5. 中華 (chūka) 7. 中日 (chūnichi, nakabi) |
For another devilishly hard quiz related to place names, click the next link.
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Posted by Eve Kushner in Kanji Curiosity | No Comments »
