LingoCards – Top trilingual language learning app

Both 漢字 (Japanese Kanji) and 汉字 (Chinese Hanzi) are translated as Chinese Characters’. At the present time, approximately 70% of the characters share the same meaning in both languages. Let’s take a look at 30 examples with different meanings!

Chinese Character	Japanese Meaning	Chinese Meaning
湯	hot water, hot spring	soup
東西	east and west	things
聞	listen	smell
切手	stamp	cut hand
娘	daughter	mother
手紙	letter	toilet paper
勉強	study	reluctance
高校	high school	college
走	run	walk
丈夫	strong	husband
大丈夫	no problem, alright	gentleman
汽車	train	car
食	to eat	food
床	floor	bed
小人	child	vile person
愛人	mistress	lover
老婆	old woman	wife
結束	unity	finish
謝	apologize	thank
吃	stutter	eat
上手	skillful, expert	start to know how to do
下手	poor, clumsy	start
先生	teacher	mister
怪我	injury	blame me
机	desk	machine
顔色	facial colour	colour
新聞	newspaper	news
下水	sewage	launch, internal organs
大家	landlord	everyone

 

Bonus: Did a pig became a wild boar?

Chinese Character	Japanese Meaning	Chinese Meaning
猪	wild boar	pig

猪 means wild boar in Japanese while 豬 means pig in Chinese. Pig is one of the Chinese zodiac animals and there is a year of the pig in many countries. However, there were no pigs in Japan when the Chinese zodiac was introduced from China to Japan. Therefore, it was translated as a wild boar that resembles a pig.

 

Read about Chinese words that made in Japan.

Let’s learn a new language today! Join us at LingoCards!