Could anyone explain why there are 返る and 反る , because according to - Feed Post by Mangan
Could anyone explain why there are 返る and 反る , because according to http://jisho.org/words?jap=kaeruŋ=&dict=edict they mean the exact same thing... Ive only seen 返 , but 反 is simpler so why isnt that used instead?
posted by Mangan
Comments 7
I asked a Japanese friend a similar question with 分かるand 解るwhich both have the same meaning. His answer is "I think 分かるand 解る have the same meaning but 分かるis much common." It is not exactly an answer at all but yeah, there you have it, an answer from the natives.
There's words that mean the same thing in every language, it's not something to worry about too much, unless you are dealing with poetry or something. Languages aren't strictly logical as a rule.
I think the bigger question is why 反る can ever be used as an alternative to mean かえる (返る), because doing that just makes things a lot more confusing!
To start with, 反る is already a verb read as "そる" meaning "to bend, to warp, to curve; to bend backwards". Giving 反る an alternative reading of かえる which means something different makes things more complicated.
Also, the kanji don't have the same meanings:
反 means "reverse, anti, oppose, contrary, turn over".
返 means "return, answer, repay, fade, revert to, restore".
This is a really useful page for your question, but it is written in Japanese:
http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/37508/m0u/%25E3%2581%258B%25E3%81%2588%25E3%2582%258B/
It explains that some usages of 返る (かえる) should always be written with the 返 kanji only, but others usages can be written with either 返 or 反.
It also has a ▽ symbol next to the 反る alternative writing, which means that かえる is a not a Jouyou Kanji List reading of 反る (only the normal reading for 反る is, which is "そる").
Other interesting information for 返 and 反:
http://www.chineseetymology.org/CharacterEtymology.aspx?characterInput=%25E5%258F%258D
http://www.chineseetymology.org/CharacterEtymology.aspx?characterInput=%25E8%25BF%2594- Bleh, sorry. Posting links containing Japanese letters is pretty tricky on this site. These links should work properly:
http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/37508/m0u/%E3%81%8B%E3%81%88%E3%82%8B/
http://www.chineseetymology.org/CharacterEtymology.aspx?characterInput=%E5%8F%8D
http://www.chineseetymology.org/CharacterEtymology.aspx?characterInput=%E8%BF%94 
oh... I wish I could read that... My Japanese isnt good enough.. :(- From what I've noticed so far, although Kanji are originally adapted from Chinese characters (Japanese even call the writing system 漢字=Chinese Characters), the Japanese kanji can be totally or absolutely different from what the original meaning of the Chinese character.
My Japanese friends will always recommend the kanji with the least strokes because to them, they are much "common" and frequently used... One friend explained that even though the kanji have the same kana and the same meaning, each in a specific situation serves the purpose of being much more appropriate than the other alternatives.
I recommend you not to get mixed up with Mandarin and Japanese. True they share a lot of similarities, sometimes the words can sound quite similar but they are the languages of two different countries. Although Japanese adapted Chinese characters into their writing system from the Tang Dynasty or probably even earlier than that, you must understand that through those thousands and millions of years, there WILL be differences and even mistakes since human makes mistakes. - Researching etymology can be fun, but you can't get hung up on it before you can have a normal conversation or write simple sentences or you'll never get there. You have to pay attention to what is most common to a wide variety of native speakers. Think about how often you care about word origins as you use English. Certain words and spellings just evolved a certain way and became more common.
