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Probably many people know that Chinese characters are used both in Japanese and Chinese, and they share uncountable vocabulary. However, do you know that many words are reversed in Japanese compare to Chinese?

 

This is because the Japanese words were borrowed from classical Chinese, which has a different word order than modern Chinese languages, due to massive language change and evolution over the course of many centuries.

The other reason is Japanese invented “Japanese-made Chinese words”, called Wasei-kango(和製漢語) and the order is affected by grammatical reason. The word order in Japanese is [Subject + Object + Verb] while the word order in Chinese is [Subject + Verb + Object].

 

Here are the examples of reverse order words!

1. Reverse order but same meaning

These words mean basically same in Japanese and Chinese.

Japanese	Chinese	English
言語	語言 / 语言	language
紹介	介紹 / 介绍	introduction
暗黒	黑暗 / 黑暗	darkness
運命	命運 / 命运	fate
胃腸	腸胃 / 肠胃	stomach
売買	買賣 / 买卖	buying and selling (trading)
途中	中途 / 中途	halfway
面会	會面 / 会面	visitation, meeting
苦痛	痛苦 / 痛苦	pain
探偵	偵探 / 侦探	detective
詐欺	欺詐 / 欺诈	fraud
窃盗	盜竊 / 盗窃	theft
限界	界限 / 界限	limit
制限	限制 / 限制	restriction
脅威	威脅 / 威胁	threat
離脱	脫離 / 脱离	separate
講演	演講 / 演讲	lecture, speech
施設	設施 / 设施	facility
兵士	士兵 / 士兵	soldier
遅延	延遲 / 延迟	delay
濾過	過濾 / 过滤	filtration
絶滅	滅絕 / 灭绝	extinction
移転	轉移 / 转移	transfer
敗戦	戰敗 / 战败	defeat
段階	階段 / 阶段	stage

*階段 in Japanese means “stairs” (樓梯 / 楼梯 in Chinese).

 

2. Reverse order and they mean totally different!

There are also some words which means totally different when it’s reversed.

Example:

Japanese	語法	usage, idiom, grammar
Chinese	法語 / 法语	French language

*語法/语法 (means grammar) exists in Chinese too.

 

3.Reverse order and one language has more meanings

Some words has more meanings in one language. In this example, the word has more meaning in Japanese.

Japanese	期日	date, deadline
Chinese	日期	date

 

In fact, there are a lot of reverse order words, but they often have more meanings in one languages or have slightly different meanings.

If you learn both Japanese and Chinese, don’t forget to check the meaning in both languages even if they look like similar!

 

Read about Chinese words that made in Japan.

 

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