What is the kanji for the word "vocabulary"? I can't find a thing on it. I searched google, but… - Feed Post by KenjiSama
What is the kanji for the word "vocabulary"? I can't find a thing on it. I searched google, but only google translate came up.....I don't trust google translate >_<
posted by KenjiSama
Comments 4
Vocabulary is 単語（たんご）Which is made of the kanji for simple and language.
Further information - http://jisho.org/kanji/details/単語
単語(たんご) or 語彙 (ごい）
@Kenjisama My expensive Japanese translation software from NJStar said the same thing as @freakymrq and @DS25. You can also ask native Japanese speaker @tibosuke
The correct answer is probably: There is no kanji with meaning of "vocabulary". The kanji closest in meaning might be 語 I guess. :P
The two words given so far both mean vocabulary. These two words aren't identical to eachother though and have slightly different usages. Which one you want depends on which usage you mean:
単語 (単 'single' + 語 'words/language') is used more to mean individual unique vocabulary words.
語彙 (語 'words/language' + 彙 'compile/assemble') means more like "lexicon". This refers to vocabulary collectively, like the entire list of vocabulary words existing within a language, or like the full repetoire of words an individual person has at their disposal.
Could have checked the online English-Japanese dictionary - 単語林 http://www.tangorin.com , which even has a Japanese word for "vocabulary" making up part of its name! :D
