Sino-Japanese vocabulary facts for kids
Sino-Japanese words, also called kango (Template:Kanji: 漢語, Template:Hiragana: かんご), are words in the Japanese language that originally came from Chinese. Think of them as "loanwords" – words borrowed from another language.
Even though Chinese and Japanese are very different languages, Chinese has greatly influenced Japanese. This influence changed how Japanese sounds (its phonology) and its vocabulary (the words it uses). For example, before Chinese words arrived, Japanese words usually ended in a vowel, like katana (Template:Kanji:刀, Template:Hiragana: かたな). But Chinese words brought new sounds, allowing Japanese words to end in consonants, like san (Template:Kanji: 三, Template:Hiragana: さん, meaning: three). They also brought long vowels and consonants, like in nō (Template:Kanji:能, Template:Hiragana: のう) and gakkō (Template:Kanji: 学校, Template:Hiragana: がっこう).
Sino-Japanese words are one of the three main types of words in Japanese. The other two are:
- Yamato kotoba (Template:Kanji: 大和言葉, Template:Hiragana: やまとことば), also known as wago (Template:Kanji: 和語, Template:Hiragana: わご). These are the original, native Japanese words.
- Gairaigo (Template:Kanji: 外来語, Template:Hiragana: がいらいご). These are words borrowed from other languages, especially English after World War II.
How Chinese Words Shape Japanese Vocabulary
About 60-70% of Japanese words come from Chinese. Just like French and Latin words are used in English for formal or technical terms, Chinese loanwords serve a similar purpose in Japanese.
For example, in English, "moon" is a native word. But for scientific terms, we use Latin-based words like "lunar" (as in "lunar calendar"). Similarly, the native Japanese word for horse is uma (Template:Kanji: 馬, Template:Hiragana: うま). But the Chinese-based term is ba (Template:Kanji:馬, Template:Hiragana: ば). This ba is used in words like basha (Template:Kanji:馬車, Template:Hiragana: ばしゃ, meaning: horse carriage) or jōba (Template:Kanji:乗馬, Template:Hiragana: じょうば, meaning: horse riding).
Most Chinese loanwords are nouns. They are often made up of more than one kanji (Chinese characters used in Japanese writing). Most kanji have two main ways to be read:
- On'yomi: This is the pronunciation that was borrowed from Chinese.
- Kun'yomi: This is the native Japanese pronunciation for words that use that kanji.
Words from Yamato kotoba (native Japanese words) usually use the kanji's kun'yomi. For example, the kanji 火 (meaning: fire) is usually read hi (its kun'yomi). The kanji 山 (meaning: mountain) is usually read yama (its kun'yomi).
However, when you combine two kanji to make a new word, like 火山 (fire + mountain), they often use their on'yomi. So, 火山 is read kazan (Template:Hiragana: かざん), not hiyama. Kazan means "volcano".
Sino-Japanese Words in Different Forms
While most Chinese loanwords in Japanese are nouns, they can also be used to create verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
- Verbs: Most Japanese verbs are native words. However, you can turn a Chinese loanword noun into a verb by adding -suru (する) after it. For example, kinshi (Template:Kanji: 禁止, Template:Hiragana:きんし) is a noun meaning "prohibition" or "ban." Add -suru to make kinshi-suru (Template:Kanji: 禁止する, Template:Hiragana: きんしする), which means "to prohibit" or "to ban."
- Adjectives: You can form adjectives from nouns by adding the suffix -teki (的). For instance, shikaku (Template:Kanji: 視覚, Template:Hiragana: しかく) is a noun meaning "vision" or "sense of sight." Adding -teki makes it shikaku-teki (Template:Kanji:視覚的, Template:Hiragana: しかくてき), an adjective meaning "visual."
Chinese Words Made in Japan
Even though kanji came from China, Japan also created many Chinese-style words on its own. These are called wasei-kango (Template:Kanji:和製漢語, Template:Hiragana: わせいかんご), which means "Japanese-made Chinese words." Many of these words describe things that are special to Japan, such as:
- Shintō (Template:Kanji:神道, Template:Hiragana: しんとう)
- Dōjō (Template:Kanji:道場, Template:Hiragana:どうじょう)
- Bushidō (Template:Kanji:武士道, Template:Hiragana:ぶしどう)
- Matcha (Template:Kanji:抹茶, Template:Hiragana:まっちゃ)
- Seppuku (Template:Kanji:切腹, Template:Hiragana:せっぷく)
Japan was one of the first countries in East Asia to modernize. Because of this, Japanese people were the first in the region to come up with Chinese-based names for new technologies and fields of study. For example, words like:
- Denwa (Template:Kanji:電話, Template:Hiragana: でんわ) for telephone
- Kagaku (Template:Kanji:科学, Template:Hiragana:かがく) for science
- Tetsugaku (Template:Kanji:哲学, Template:Hiragana: てつがく) for philosophy
These Japanese-made words were then borrowed back into Chinese! For instance, denwa became diànhuà in Chinese. This interesting process is called reborrowing.
