Level 10-2 Flashcards
漢
Chinese
china
On’Yomi:
かん
Kun’Yomi:
None
Meaning Mnemonic
If an ancient Chinese deity becomes angered, it’s going to send a tsunami at China. This Chinese deity is very powerful, and creating something like a tsunami requires nothing more than a flick of its wrist. Poor China, they never saw it coming.
Additional Info:
Picture yourself in China, surrounded by Chinese people, when out of nowhere swells a tsunami and its headed right for you. This is terrifying. Feel the fear swell in your stomach as the tsunami swells up in front of your eyes.
Reading Mnemonic
Wait a minute, that’s not a Chinese deity at all! That’s the powerful spirit of the Mongolian warlord Genghis Khan (かん) and he’s having his wrath unloaded on all of China. KHAAANNNN!!!
Additional Info:
Remember that Star Trek movie, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan? Remember when he yells out, “KHAAANNNN!!” in the film? If so, picture that scene in your mind and imagine yourself doing it in the face of a tsunami. If you don’t know what scene I’m talking about, look it up on YouTube.
病
Sick
sickness, ill, illness
On’Yomi:
びょう
Kun’Yomi:
None
Meaning Mnemonic
A sick stick of dynamite is going to be sick forever. Unfortunately there are no medicines that are effective on sticks of dynamite, so once they contract a sickness, they’re sick for good.
Additional Info:
Imagine if you were a sick stick of dynamite. Every time you sneezed you ran the risk of blowing up. It would be a terrifying way to live. Just imagine it.
Reading Mnemonic
Being nervous all the time about spontaneously exploding would probably make you sweat profusely. And you know what sweating causes? B.O. (びょう). You’d be one smelly stick of dynamite. B.O. is a very unpleasant smell, and being sick is no excuse.
Additional Info:
Picture this as your life. You could explode at any moment, you’re sick, and you have B.O. Nobody wants to be around you because you might explode and kill them, and you stink. What a terrible way to live!
落
Fall
N/A
On’Yomi:
らく
Kun’Yomi:
おち.る, おと.す
Meaning Mnemonic
A violent tsunami causes flowers to be ripped from the branches of trees and they swirl around and kiss your face gently as they fall. With the tsunami came a great windy storm that blew many flowers all about. It’s a pretty sight amongst all the destruction.
Additional Info:
Imagine being out in this tsunami induced storm. You can feel the rain and wind on your skin – you’re wet, cold, and scared. But you see some flowers being blown to the ground and you are mesmerized by the dance they do on the wind before they finally fall to the ground.
Reading Mnemonic
After the tsunami storm has finally died down, the animals start to come out of hiding now that it is safe. You see a raccoon (らく) climb down from one of the flowering trees and he starts to roll around in all the flowers that had fallen to the ground during the storm. Who knew raccoons like flowers so much?
Additional Info:
It’s strange enough that this raccoon is out during the daytime, but it’s even stranger that the raccoon is playing in the flowers that had fallen off the trees due to the tsunami. Picture this sight in your mind and what a strange thing it is to behold.
路
Road
N/A
On’Yomi:
ろ
Kun’Yomi:
None
Meaning Mnemonic
If you’ve been walking all day, nobody is going to want to kiss your foot if you’ve been walking barefoot down a dirt road. Your feet are filthy, sweaty, and stinky. Nobody is going to want to kiss those feet.
Additional Info:
Imagine kissing someone’s foot. Now imagine kissing someone’s foot after they’ve been walking down a dirt road for hours. It’s disgusting. Smell the stench of dirt and sweat wafting up into your nostrils as the foot approaches your lips. It’s wretched.
Reading Mnemonic
What was this person walking down again? Oh, that’s right – a road (ろ). They were walking down a dirt road.
Additional Info:
Walking down a dirt road barefoot like this is a sure way to dirty up your feet. Feel the dirt, rocks, and twigs under your feet. The road is hard and dry and is not making your journey very comfortable at all.
軽
Lightweight
light, light weight
On’Yomi:
けい
Kun’Yomi:
かる
Meaning Mnemonic
A tombstone may be heavy for a human, but to a car, they’re relatively lightweight. Cars are very strong, you see, so something heavy like a tombstone is no match for them. All cars find tombstones to be lightweight and easy to transport.
Additional Info:
Picture yourself trying to move a huge slab tombstone. It’s difficult, no? I bet you wish you had a car or some other vehicle to make the process much less painful. Your arms are getting sore from carrying the tombstone and you’re getting sweaty and hot from all the work. What you would do for a car with air conditioning.
Reading Mnemonic
What do you wish you had to transport this tombstone? Oh, that’s right – a car (かる). If you had a car, this tombstone moving business would be no problem. To cars, tombstones are naught but lightweight pebbles!
Additional Info:
Remember all that hard work you were doing before and how you got all sweaty and gross? Now imagine yourself inside of a nice car with air conditioning, and the tombstone in the trunk. It feels great doesn’t it? The air conditioning is perfect, and driving a car is much easier than carrying a tombstone around.
農
Farming
agriculture
On’Yomi:
のう
Kun’Yomi:
None
Meaning Mnemonic
Listening to superman movie music while farming will make you feel like a superhero. The same music that once played for Superman is now playing for you. You are Farming Man.
Additional Info:
Farming Man is faster than a speeding ox, more powerful than a tractor, and able to leap tall grain silos in a single bound! Imagine yourself as this mighty superhero. You’re incredible.
Reading Mnemonic
By day, you are simply known as Noah (のう), the boring ol’ farmhand, but by night you become the mighty Farming Man! Who would expect normal Noah to turn into such an amazing and stupendous superhero? Music swells in a crescendo! Farming Man is here to save the day!
Additional Info:
Is your name Noah? Do you know someone named Noah? Do they seem like the superhero type? Imagine them as a superhero. Picture how they would look like in farming gear and a cape.
速
Fast
N/A
On’Yomi:
そく
Kun’Yomi:
はや.い
Meaning Mnemonic
The water slide that the ent is going down is very fast fast. Ents like to take things verrrryyyy slowwwwwlllyyy. So, this fast water slide is a big change of pace for the ent.
Additional Info:
Imagine the ent actually going pretty slowly down the water slide. But, to him it’s really, really fast. He can’t stop screaming “This water slide is too fast! So fast. We don’t like to rush…”
Reading Mnemonic
The ent jumped on the water slide a little too fast though. He forgot to take off his socks (そく). Now they’re all soggy and wet, and he is very upset about this as well.
Additional Info:
“First I go too fast on a water slide. Now my socks are wet. What could make this day any worse? SARUUMANNNNNNNNNN. A WIZARD SHOULD KNOW BETTER.”
進
Meanings:
Advance
N/A
On’Yomi:
しん
Kun’Yomi:
すす.む
Meaning Mnemonic
Building a water slide for a turkey will advance its happiness to a whole new level. Turkeys live pretty boring lives. But if you build one a water slide… boom! Instant awesomeness. That is one happy turkey.
Additional Info:
Pretend you’re a turkey. What do you do all day? Walk around? Eat? Hope it’s not Thanksgiving yet? It’s not very exciting. Now imagine someone gives you a water slide. Your life has advanced from being super lame to super awesome.
Reading Mnemonic
Unfortunately for the turkey, you’ve made the ladder up to the waterslide a bit hard for it to climb. As a result, the turkey bangs its shins (しん) on every rung of the ladder as it advances up to the top. Poor turkey. Although, I bet you’re wondering, “Do turkeys even have shins?” Sure they do.
Additional Info:
Picture this scene. It’s entertaining enough seeing a turkey advance up a ladder and slide down a water slide, but with the turkey banging its little shins on the ladder rungs as it climbs? Priceless.
配
Distribute
N/A
On’Yomi:
はい
Kun’Yomi:
くば.る
Meaning Mnemonic
Alcohol, placed upon the cobra’s back. It slithers around, taking the alcohol from place to place. Its job is to distribute the alcohol.
Additional Info:
Stop and talk to the cobra. He won’t talk long, because he has a job to do. He has to distribute all the alcohol on his back.
Reading Mnemonic
But, the cobra does stop long enough not to speak to you, but to say a haiku (はい).
I take alcohol
And give it to restaurants
They pay me in rats
Additional Info:
If you stop him again, he tells you another haiku. Want to come up with this one on your own?
酒
Alcohol
N/A
On’Yomi:
しゅ
Kun’Yomi:
さけ
Meaning Mnemonic
A tsunami is an alcoholic beverage containing a lot of alcohol. It’s 3 different kinds of rums, pineapple juice, and grenadine. It’ll hit you like a tsunami though. This alcoholic drink has a kick to it.
Additional Info:
It’s made with spiced rum, coconut rum, and dark rum. Imagine yourself on a sandy beach drinking this cocktail. Feel the sun on your face and the wind in your hair as you sip on this fruity and rumy alcoholic beverage known as a tsunami. You could even picture an actual tsunami in the water coming right for you. I wouldn’t recommend it though – actual tsunamis are scary, not drinkable and delicious.
Reading Mnemonic
Remember that beach you’re on? To fully enjoy the experience, you’ve removed your shoes (しゅ). Being able to feel the sand between your toes is a great feeling. Especially when paired with alcohol.
Additional Info:
Imagine wearing shoes on the beach. It’s probably the worst footwear choice you could make. You’re going to get sand in your shoes. Guaranteed. Isn’t that the worst? Make sure you take off your shoes when you walk on sand. It’s way better, trust me.
鉄
Iron
N/A
On’Yomi:
てつ
Kun’Yomi:
None
Meaning Mnemonic
You look at some gold and notice a fault in it. You scrape at the fault and see that it’s just sprayed with gold paint. It’s not gold, it’s (comparatively) worthless iron!
Additional Info:
You think you’ve found a ton of gold bars! Imagine being so happy about this. Then, imagine your heart dropping in your chest when you notice the fault. Then, it dropping down even farther when you figure out it’s merely iron.
Reading Mnemonic
Do you know that movie, Tetsuo (てつ) the Iron Man? We talked about it on Tofugu a while back. It’s one of the wackiest Japanese movies of all time. If you don’t know about Tetsuo the Iron Man, you should definitely look it up. Tetsuo is one of the most insane movies in the history of ever.
Additional Info:
Watch a trailer on YouTube for Tetsuo the Iron Man. Go ahead, do it now – I’ll wait. Did you watch it? Remember that nonsense every time you see this kanji.
集
Collect
gather
On’Yomi:
しゅう
Kun’Yomi:
あつ.まる
Meaning Mnemonic
If a turkey manages to climb up into a tree, it’ll be no easy task to collect it. Either this turkey has managed to fly, or it’s taught itself to climb. Either way, this turkey is smarter than the average bird. You’re going to have a tough time collecting it for sure.
Additional Info:
Picture a turkey. They’re pretty awkward animals. Now imagine this turkey climbing up a tree. How is it doing that? It’s some freak of nature. How strange.
Reading Mnemonic
Okay, so the turkey is in a tree – you have to go up there to collect it. Or, or - you could just hire a shooter (しゅう) and have them shoot the turkey right out of the tree. Yeah, that’d be much easier than actually going up there to collect it yourself.
Additional Info:
Picture this shooter about to shoot the turkey out of the tree so you can collect its carcass from the ground afterwards. BAM! The shooter shoots the turkey and it falls on the ground dead.
頭
Head
N/A
On’Yomi:
ず
Kun’Yomi:
あたま
Meaning Mnemonic
If a geoduck eats lots of beans, its head will grow larger. To a geoduck, beans are a brain food, so by eating beans, a geoduck’s head will grow incredibly large. Geoducks already look strange enough as it is, let alone with engorged heads.
Additional Info:
Imagine, if you will, a geoduck. Now imagine that same geoduck with a massive head. It looks ridiculous, and more disgusting than ever. It’s actually really creeping you out, because the head keeps getting larger as the geoduck eats more beans. Ew.
Reading Mnemonic
As the geoduck eats more and more beans, its head gets bigger and bigger until finally the geoduck’s head explodes like an atomic (あたま) bomb. BOOM! Geoduck parts go flying everywhere and pieces of the geoduck’s massive head float to the ground as atomic fallout.
Additional Info:
Remember how gross geoducks are? Of course you do. Now imagine one exploding right in front of you. You’ve got geoduck mess all over yourself. It’s gross, slimy, sticky, and covering you from head to toe. It’s wretched.
顔
Face
N/A
On’Yomi:
がん
Kun’Yomi:
かお
Meaning Mnemonic
Here you stand, a hair’s breadth away from the edge of a cliff, when out of nowhere a geoduck slaps you right in the face. Geoducks are gross, and you back away from the edge of the cliff you were standing but a hair’s breadth away from just before. Your face is all gooey from the geoduck’s slimy residue.
Additional Info:
Imagine being slapped in the face with a geoduck. It’s probably one of the worst things that could ever happen to someone. Those things are disgusting. Now you have geoduck goo all over your face. It’s sticky and slimy and gross.
Reading Mnemonic
But where did that geoduck come from anyway? As you turn around from the cliff edge, wiping the goop from your face and out of your eyes, you see an angry cow (かお). This cow is the one who hit you in the face with this geoduck. I know not the reason, but this cow is most definitely not happy with you.
Additional Info:
Cows are big animals. So you probably got hit in the face with that geoduck pretty hard. Feel the geoduck shaped welt starting to form on the side of your face. It’s very painful and stings a lot.
