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COMPONENT # #31
A poor figure skater lets her leg droop in this position.
KANJI #31
| 下 | LOWER |
Meaning
This obvious partner to the preceding kanji expresses a similarly wide range of ideas, with words in this case relating to the notions of “lower”, “under”, and “below”.
Remembering this kanji
No doubt about it: figure skating crowds are tough, and will not tolerate LOWFR-class skaters. In one competition, all it took was a poor figure skater’s drooping leg to make the audience hurl the tops of their buns at her in disgust.
Common Pronunciations
Common ON reading: KA (力）; GE (ゲ）
Common kun reading: shita (した）; shimo (しも）; o (お); sa (さ); kuda (くだ)
Here it is: the kanji with the most common readings of all. Although it can be a bit of work trying to come to grips with this character’s many angles, keep in mind that the final three kun-yomi above are all verb stems, and will thus be accompanied by hiragana hinting at the correct pronunciation. When it comes to the readings used for compounds, KA or GE will be encountered far more than the others, although there are no easily discernible patterns as to when each of these is used.
This kanji illustrates well the difference between intransitive/transitive verb pairs. Refer back to “早” and “上” (Entries 29 and 30). Notice a similarity between the verbs presented there and examples four and five shown here.
suggestions for kun-yomi: “she tackled”, “she moped”, “orangutan”, “sat”, “barracuda”
Create your on-yomi keywords and enter them in the table at the back of the book. After that, write your sentence to remember the on-yomi and kun-yomi readings in the box below.
Less Common Pronunciations
Less common ON reading: none
Less Common kun reading: moto (もと)
| IRREGULAR READINGS | ||
| 下手 | lower + hand = to be poor at (some- | he.ta へ.た |
| COMMON WORDS AND COMPOUNDS | ||
| 下 | low; below; under | shita した |
| 下りる (intr) | to come down | o.riru お.りる |
| 下ろす (tr) | to take down | o.rosu お.ろす |
| 下がる (intr) | to hang down (on one’s own) | sa.garu さ.がる |
| 下げる (tr) | to lower (something) | sa.geru さ.げる |
| 下さる | to oblige | Kuda.saru くだ.さる |
| 上下 | upper + lower = high and low | JŌ.GE ジョウ.ゲ |
| 天下 | heaven + lower = the whole land | TEN.KA テン.力 |
| SAMPLE SENTENCE: | |||
| 木 | から | 下りて | 下さい。 |
| ki | kara | o.rite | kuda.sai. |
| tree | from | come down | please |
| = Please come down from the tree. |
COMPONENT # #32
KANJI #32
| 米 | RICE |
Meaning
(Uncooked) rice. As can be seen in the last five compounds below, this character is used, curiously, to symbolize the Americas (recall how 中 is used in a similar way for china, and 日 for Japan). Note how the fourth example combines two such characters; this occurs frequently in written Japanese.
Remembering this kanji
Interesting fact: Japan has the equivalent of an Easter Bunny! The difference is that this rabbit will sneak around behind trees until he can dart out and hide RICE for children to find. Unfortunately, as the grains are really small and a lot less interesting than colored eggs, many kids have grown bored with the custom. As a result of this, the tradition of the Japanese RICE rabbit is not well-known today.
Common Pronunciations
Common ON reading: MAI (マイ); BEI (ベイ)
Common kun reading: kome (こめ）
BEI is used as the reading in compounds when this kanji relates to the Americas, with MAI the primary choice when it refers to rice.
kun-yomi suggestion: “comb acres”
Create your on-yomi keywords and enter them in the table at the back of the book. After that, write your sentence to remember the on-yomi and kun-yomi readings in the box below.
Less Common Pronunciations
Less common ON reading: none
Less Common kun reading: none
| COMMON WORDS AND COMPOUNDS |
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