55

Bundle 55: Size of a Postage Stamp

These four essays enable you to grouse about having too little. Perhaps you receive a pittance of a salary; both 蚊 and 涙 will help you express disappointment and anger about that, but you'll be talking about an animal's tears, not your own. Or maybe you live in a dime-sized space; if so, 狭 will let you complain that your abode feels crowded and cramped. Alternatively, you might gripe that your garden is tiny; calling it as small as a cat's (猫) forehead will get that point across.
To view Joy o' Kanji essays, you must be logged in to Kanshudo. Please LOG IN (or REGISTER).
蚊
mosquito
JOK: 1056
See what "mosquito pillar" and "shaking mosquito" represent. Discover how to use 蚊 in figurative terms. Learn about the "London Underground mosquito" and the striped "Asian tiger mosquito." And find out how to say, "The creature that kills the most humans is the mosquito," "The mosquito transmits many pathogens," and "Your punches don't affect me even as much as a mosquito (bite)."
狭
narrow
JOK: 1166
The word 'narrow' makes me think of 'skinny,' as in the delightfully named diet book Skinny Bitch. But skinny isn't what you'll find with 狭, even though it means 'narrow.' The Japanese associate 狭 with crowdedness. Learn various words for cramped spaces, from a tiny apartment to a clogged artery. We'll even cover narrow-mindedness and narrow interpretations of words. You'll get the skinny on all of it!
猫
cat
JOK: 1742
The cat is omnipresent in Japan, appearing in nearly every house in olden times and in cat cafes today. Having inspired scads of charming expressions, as well as Hello Kitty and beckoning porcelain figurines, cats have also stimulated the imaginations of creative types from Kuniyoshi to Soseki and Haruki Murakami. Find out why Japanese people have such deep affection for cats.
涙
tears
JOK: 1916
Learn how tears well up, trickle, and stream in Japanese and how to say that you're moved to tears. Start complaining about your pittance of a salary, and find out how to say that you've overlooked an insult. See how money can blunt the pain of a breakup. Also learn about the tears associated with sparrows, mosquitoes, crocodiles, and devils, as well as with chopsticks and blood.
Kanshudo is your AI Japanese tutor, and your constant companion on the road to mastery of the Japanese language. To get started learning Japanese, just follow the study recommendations on your Dashboard. You can use Quick search (accessible using the icon at the top of every page) to look up any Japanese word, kanji or grammar point, as well as to find anything on Kanshudo quickly. For an overview, take the tour.
×