貨 - Change Your MONEY into GOODS

Readings & Meanings:

カ

money, goods

Common Usage:

硬貨

金貨

貨物列車

Examples:

偽の硬貨が自動販売機の中から見つかった。

金貨をオークションで買った。

貨物列車が通り過ぎた。

Translations:

I found this counterfeit coin in the vending machine.

At the auction I bought some gold coins.

The freight train passes through here.

Radical:

The radical is 貝, Kai-hen, the standard "goods" radical, as explained in these other blog posts (except for the last one).

The phonetic element, from which 貨 gets its "ka", is the one we just learned, 化, meaning "transformation."

As 貨 is more for commodities, which are objects that signify a monetary value, 化 + 貨 = money transformed into goods

References:

http://www.kanjinetworks.com/indices/radindex.html
http://www.thejapanesepage.com/node/kanji/ka.htm

衣 - The Folds in Your CLOTHES

Readings & Meanings:

イ

ころも

clothes, garments

Common Usage:

衣替え(の日)

衣料品

Examples:

春は衣替えの季節。
衣替えの日を境に女子学生は黒い長袖のセーラー服から白いセーラー服に着替える。

今期は衣料品の売り上げが良くなかった。

Translations:

Spring is the season when you change your clothing.
After the clothes-changing day, female students change to sailor-suits instead of black, long-sleeved sailor-suits.

This season, the proceeds from clothing goods have not been good.

Bonus:

Careful readers may recognize 衣 from our post on 浴. Put them together, and you get 浴衣, using an unusual pronunciation for both kanji.

To remember this kanji, think of the folds of a kimono. Because 衣 alone gives Japanese people the connotation of old clothing, kimonos, etc. So think of the kanji's lines as folds in a kimono.

References:

http://www.thejapanesepage.com/kanji/kanji/i.htm

得 - GET Some Clams, Go to the Bank

Readings & Meanings:

う（る）

トク

え（る）

acquire, gain

Common Usage:

得点

得る（える）

心得

Examples:

彼は、中間テストでクラスの最高得点を得た。

時代が変わっても質素倹約という武士の心得を忘れない。

Translations:

On the midterm, he got the highest points in the class.

Even if the times are changing, do not forget the knowledge of the simple and modest samurai.

Radical:

ぎょうにんべん is on the left. I don't think we've talked about 彳 before.

It's ironic that the 彳 kanji alone apparently means "stop, linger", because the 彳 as a radical emphatically means "movement, action, go go go." Think of 行く whenever you see 彳.

On the right of 得 you see 貝 in a minimized form on top, and 寸 on the bottom. 寸 means measurement, but it's a symbol of a hand exerting pressure.

Now, what's 貝 doing in this? 貝 as we know it now is kanji for "shellfish." Long ago, in ancient times, shellfish was used as currency. Therefore, 貝 came to be used to symbolize commodities.

(Think of the now-unpopular slang for dollars: "clams.")

Put it all together: Action: shellfish in the hand: receiving goods.

Another way to remember that 得 uses the Gyouninben radical (彳) is to think in terms of going to the bank. 銀行 has that 彳 in there. If you receive money, you should go to the bank.

References:

http://www.kanjinetworks.com/indices/radindex.html
http://www.thejapanesepage.com/node/kanji/e.htm

負 - BEAR the Burden of DEFEAT

Readings & Meanings:

お（う）

フ

ま（ける）to lose, to be defeated

ま（かす）to beat, to defeat

to bear, to be indebted to

Common Usage:

負う

勝負

負け犬

抱負

負ける

Examples:

サラ金に手を出して、高額な借金を負ってしまった。

彼は勝負に強い。

負け犬になるなら、死んだほうがましだ。

今年の新年の抱負は何ですか？

おじさん、その魚買うから、野菜を１００円負けてくれない？

Translations:

They held out their hands to loan companies (salaryman loan companies, with high interest rates), and now they bear huge debts.

He's great in a match.

If I turn out to be the loser, it would be better to die.

What's your New Year's resolution?

Mister, since I'm buying the fish, could you please give me a 100 yen discount on the vegetables.

Radical:

貝 (Kai-hen) is the radical. It's a pictograph of a shellfish, and it refers to goods, commodities, etc., because of the ancient shell currency used in that part of the world, long ago.

The top part depicts a crouching figure. Think of someone crouching under a great load.

Therefore, the "burden" part of this kanji's meaning is clear: to bear a heavy debt is to bear a great weight indeed.

Losing is also a burden, I suppose.

Recommendation:

If you really want to remember this kanji, just watch Hikaru no Go. The loser of the game says either 負けました or ありません, every time he doesn't win. You will never forget the word for "to lose" if you watch the whole series (and it's quite easy to get hooked).

References:

http://www.kanjinetworks.com/indices/radindex.html
http://www.thejapanesepage.com/node/kanji/o.htm

革 - RENEW Your LEATHER Coat

Readings & Meanings:

カク

かわ

leather, reform

Common Usage:

革

皮革製品

革命

税制改革

Examples:

革のジャケットを買った。

皮革製品は手入れが面倒だ。

ロシア革命はマルクスの社会主義理論に基づいて遂行された。

与党主導の税制改革は失敗に終わった。

Translations:

I bought a leather jacket.

The repair of leather goods is troublesome.

The Russian Revolution was based on and accomplished by Marx's Socialist theory.

The government party's leader's tax reform ended in failure.

Radical:

革 is its own radical! Call it Kakunokawa.

The pictograph is of a stretched animal hide, with head and horns at the top and tail at the bottom, legs splayed out to the left and right.

References:

http://www.kanjinetworks.com/indices/radindex.html
http://www.thejapanesepage.com/node/kanji/ka.htm

頂 - I RECEIVE Your Gift and Raise It Above the SUMMIT of My Head

Readings & Meanings:

いただ（く）

チョウ

summit, receive

Common Usage:

頂上

頂き

頂戴

頂く

Examples:

夜明け前に頂上にたどり着いた。

その山の頂きには大仏が立っている。

お手伝いしたから、お小遣い頂戴。

隣の奥さんからたくあんを頂いた。

Translations:

We reached the summit before dawn.

At the summit of that mountain is a big Buddha statue.

Since I helped you, please give me my allowance.

I received a gift of pickled daikon from the wife next door.

Radical:

丁 is the head of a nail driven into an object. It's the phonetic marker, meaning it lends one of its pronunciations to 頂, namely, チョウ. It can also lend the idea of "straight, direct."

頁 is found in 頭, and with good reason; 頁 is a pictogram of a kneeling dude with an oversize, caricature-like head. (I mean, it has its own solar system. HEAD! PANTS! NOW!)

The Kanji Networks online etymology site really hit the nail on the head on this one. Follow this logic:

As per 丁 (Type 1 Phonetic) (straight) + 頁 head → place directly atop the head → place atop → top/summit; prop up → receive; eat (← bow and ceremoniously raise received goods above one's head; compare 承).Ref.

Important:

Caution: hiragana alert. いただきます is said at the beginnings of meals in Japan. It probably came from 頂きます. But, whatever you do, don't write the kanji in this context. Hiragana is standard and necessary here.

References:

http://www.kanjinetworks.com/knetwork/KAT.html#KATx02
http://www.kanjinetworks.com/tnetwork/TANG.html#TANG45
http://www.thejapanesepage.com/kanji/kanji/i.htm

貝 - SHELL out

Readings & Meanings:

かい

seashell, shellfish

Common Usage:

貝殻

貝塚

貝

Examples:

海岸で貝殻を拾う。

要するに貝塚は大昔の人々のゴミ捨て場の遺跡である。

貝の食中毒で死にそうになった。

Translations:

I gather seashells on the shore.

The point is, this heap of seashells is the remains of an ancient people's trash site.

I almost died of seafood poisoning.

Radical:

貝 is its own radical, Kai-hen. It's from a pictograph of a clamlike shellfish. The original pictograph split the box in half vertically, to more resemble a bivalve.

As we've seen in all the kanji we've already looked at with Kai-hen, this radical almost always imparts the meaning of "goods, wealth, money, commodities," because shells used to be used as currency.

References:

http://www.kanjinetworks.com/indices/radindex.html
http://www.thejapanesepage.com/node/kanji/ka.htm