A postscript of sorts: I’m told that I overlooked a terrific word containing both 同 and 異: 同床異夢 (dōshō-imu), which means “cohabiting but living in different worlds.” It breaks down as same + bed + uncommon + dreams.
And a postscript to this postscript: If you find that the kanji in what I just wrote doesn’t come through clearly on your end, please let me know, so I can address this tech. issue. Thanks.
I suppose this is just another Japanese homonym, but dojo also means a training center, which is written with two completely different kanji characters. Sympathy, agreeing with one’s boss, and martial arts training center. I suppose there are more!
Thanks for the insightful comment, Tom! (But I should note that, as indicated on the Answers page, 同上 does not mean “agreeing with one’s boss.”) Anyway, it seems that there are at least a few more dōjō homonyms that I haven’t mentioned yet:
道場 (a martial arts training center, as you said) [the way + place]
同乗 (riding together) [same + ride]
堂上 (on the roof; court nobles)–HUH?! [public chamber or hall + above]
仝 (ditto, as above) [Interesting! Just one kanji conveys all of dōjō here!
Then we’ve got alternatives with a short o in either syllable:
童女 (dōjo: little girl)
土壌 (dojō: soil)
鰌 (dojō: loach). Had to look up “loach” in an Engl. dictionary! It’s a Eurasian or African fish!
As far as Japanese goes, that’s actually not too many homonyms. I was thinking of making dōshi homonyms part of the blog post. I found 11, 7 of which include the 同 kanji.
Because, in 同工異曲, 工 and 曲 mean, respectively, “to build” and “tune”, I would personally want to apply this compound to songs that are basically the same tune but made to sound a little different.
Hi Eve, Wow, it is so educating to me. I never heard an expression of “Soothin Symmetry” – when Dou pairs with other kanji,what a vibrant but soothing effects create – It is so refreshing! I want to share that there is a term called “Itaidoshin” which consists of 4 kanji – I (different)+ tai (body)+ Dou (same) + shin (mind). I do never heard about Policeman for Doushin, but this “Itaidoushin” means “different bodies but one mind”. This is a Buddhism term which we use when we have one (same) goal trying to acheive it. As a team, we cannot accomplish a goal if we have different minds…Thank you.
Thanks for sharing that, Hitomi! Here’s the kanji for Hitomi’s word, “itaidōshin”: 異体同心. Nice word!
By the way, I’m told that “policeman” as a meaning for 同心 dates back to the Edo era (1603-1868) or even the Kamakura era (1185–1333). Long ago, 同心 meant “low-class officer in charge of law enforcement.” I’m also told that most Japanese today probably haven’t heard of that definition.
If you expand the discussion to science, you will encounter an unbelievable number of words that include異,違, and 同. No wonder because scientists always make a big deal out of minute differences! 異性体(isomer), 同位体(isotope),異方的(anisotropic),等方的(isotropic),同期(synchronization),同等(equivalence),異種(heterogeneity), etc. Note that同and等are close in meaning. It can be inferred that if you are looking for kanji compounds including同(or等)and 異,look for English words starting with “iso”(synchro,homo) and “hetero”(aniso,dis).
kanji resources
May 2nd, 2007 at 2:06 pm
A postscript of sorts: I’m told that I overlooked a terrific word containing both 同 and 異: 同床異夢 (dōshō-imu), which means “cohabiting but living in different worlds.” It breaks down as same + bed + uncommon + dreams.
And a postscript to this postscript: If you find that the kanji in what I just wrote doesn’t come through clearly on your end, please let me know, so I can address this tech. issue. Thanks.
May 3rd, 2007 at 3:23 pm
I suppose this is just another Japanese homonym, but dojo also means a training center, which is written with two completely different kanji characters. Sympathy, agreeing with one’s boss, and martial arts training center. I suppose there are more!
May 3rd, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Thanks for the insightful comment, Tom! (But I should note that, as indicated on the Answers page, 同上 does not mean “agreeing with one’s boss.”) Anyway, it seems that there are at least a few more dōjō homonyms that I haven’t mentioned yet:
道場 (a martial arts training center, as you said) [the way + place]
同乗 (riding together) [same + ride]
堂上 (on the roof; court nobles)–HUH?! [public chamber or hall + above]
仝 (ditto, as above) [Interesting! Just one kanji conveys all of dōjō here!
Then we’ve got alternatives with a short o in either syllable:
童女 (dōjo: little girl)
土壌 (dojō: soil)
鰌 (dojō: loach). Had to look up “loach” in an Engl. dictionary! It’s a Eurasian or African fish!
As far as Japanese goes, that’s actually not too many homonyms. I was thinking of making dōshi homonyms part of the blog post. I found 11, 7 of which include the 同 kanji.
May 5th, 2007 at 9:52 am
Because, in 同工異曲, 工 and 曲 mean, respectively, “to build” and “tune”, I would personally want to apply this compound to songs that are basically the same tune but made to sound a little different.
May 7th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
Hi Eve, Wow, it is so educating to me. I never heard an expression of “Soothin Symmetry” – when Dou pairs with other kanji,what a vibrant but soothing effects create – It is so refreshing! I want to share that there is a term called “Itaidoshin” which consists of 4 kanji – I (different)+ tai (body)+ Dou (same) + shin (mind). I do never heard about Policeman for Doushin, but this “Itaidoushin” means “different bodies but one mind”. This is a Buddhism term which we use when we have one (same) goal trying to acheive it. As a team, we cannot accomplish a goal if we have different minds…Thank you.
May 7th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
Thanks for sharing that, Hitomi! Here’s the kanji for Hitomi’s word, “itaidōshin”: 異体同心. Nice word!
By the way, I’m told that “policeman” as a meaning for 同心 dates back to the Edo era (1603-1868) or even the Kamakura era (1185–1333). Long ago, 同心 meant “low-class officer in charge of law enforcement.” I’m also told that most Japanese today probably haven’t heard of that definition.
May 11th, 2007 at 10:01 pm
If you expand the discussion to science, you will encounter an unbelievable number of words that include異,違, and 同. No wonder because scientists always make a big deal out of minute differences! 異性体(isomer), 同位体(isotope),異方的(anisotropic),等方的(isotropic),同期(synchronization),同等(equivalence),異種(heterogeneity), etc. Note that同and等are close in meaning. It can be inferred that if you are looking for kanji compounds including同(or等)and 異,look for English words starting with “iso”(synchro,homo) and “hetero”(aniso,dis).