Read Japanese Today. Len Walsh

      毎 is rarely used as a word by itself. In compound words, where two or more kanji form a word, 毎 is pronounced MAI or GOTO, depending mainly on whether it is the first or second kanji in the compound. For example, the compound word 毎日, every day, which incidentally is the name of a leading Japanese daily newspaper, is pronounced MAINICHI. The compound word 日毎 uses the same two kanji but in reverse order. It also means daily, but in a more formal sense, with an emphasis on each-and-every-day. 日毎 is pronounced HIGOTO.

      The Chinese pictograph for resting was a person 人 beside a tree 木. They first put it together as . Then, as with the kanji 毎 MAI, above, they decided that the person 人 had to change its shape to blend with the other element in the kanji square. In the composite kanji every 毎, the element for mother 母 was rather short and wide, so the element for person 人 was added at the top of the square instead of beside the mother 母. In the kanji for resting, the element for tree 木 was tall and thin, so the element for person 人 had to be added at the left-hand side of the square instead of at the top. The Chinese changed the shape of person to fit the left-hand side and drew it 亻. They wrote the new kanji 休. It means rest, or take a break, or take a holiday. Used as a word by itself it is pronounced YASUMU (with kana at the end to show the grammar). Used in compound words it is pronounced KYŪ. A 休 日 KYŪJITSU, rest-day, is a holiday or a day off.

      The Chinese combined the kanji 本, meaning root or origin, with the kanji 人, meaning person, into a new composite kanji symbolizing the root of a person 体, meaning the human body. The shape of person 人 was changed, as it was in the kanji 休 meaning rest, to fit into the left-hand side of the kanji square. When 体 is used as a word by itself it is pronounced KARADA. When used in compound words it is pronounced TAI. 体 could also mean the body of an animal, so the technical term 人体 JINTAI, human-body, is often used to indicate specifically the human body.

      For the character for child, the Chinese drew a picture of a swaddled baby . It soon was drawn , then squared off to the final form 子. It is pronounced KO when used as a kanji by itself, or used in proper names, and SHI when used in compound words. An 男の 子 OTOKO-no-KO, male-child, is a boy, and an 女の子 ONNA-no-KO, woman-child, is a girl. In both these examples, no is a grammatical particle and is written in kana. 男 OTOKO, 女 ONNA, and 子 KO are all essentially used as stand-alone kanji, words by themselves (linked by the grammatical particle no の, indicating the possessive tense) and are not compound words.

      OTOKO-no-KO 男の子 can be written 男子 without the particle no, but in this case it becomes a compound word and is pronounced DANSHI. It still means boy. In the same way, ONNA-no-KO 女の子, when written without the particle no, 女子, is pronounced JOSHI and means girl. The forms JOSHI and DANSHI are used more in writing, and OTOKO-no-KO and ONNA-no-KO are used more in speech.

      A woman 女 and a 子 child together signified love and goodness to the Chinese. They combined these two separate pictographs, each a kanji on its own, into one new composite kanji written 好, meaning love, like, or goodness. It is pronounced SUKI, SUKU, or KONOMU when it is used as a word by itself (the kanji 好 is the SU or the KO part; the rest has to be written in kana, expressing the grammatical endings). Used in compound words, 好 is pronounced KŌ. A 好男子 KŌDANSHI, good-man-child, is a handsome young man.

      A man standing with his arms stretched out as far as he can manage was what the Chinese saw as “big.” Their early writings show it drawn as . Now it is drawn 大 and means big. When used by itself it is pronounced ŌKII (like many Japanese words when used by themselves, it needs grammatical endings which must be written in kana; the kanji 大 only provides the Ō sound; the KI sound and the I sound— two separate sounds needing two separate kana—have to be written in kana). When used in compound words, 大 is pronounced TAI or DAI. 大日本 DAI-NIHON (or DAI-NIPPON) means Greater Japan. 大田 ŌTA, big-field, is the name of a ward in Tokyo. 大好き DAISUKI, big-like, means like very much, be extremely fond of.

      Above the kanji meaning big 大, which is a picture of a person with his arms outstretched, the Chinese added a barrier line 一 to signify that above a person is heaven with man in his place below. The final form of the new composite kanji is 天, meaning heaven or sky. When it forms a word by itself it is pronounced AMA. Used with other kanji in compound words it is pronounced TEN. 天体 TENTAI, heaven-body, means heavenly bodies, like the sun and the moon. A 天子 TENSHI, heaven-child, means the ruler of a nation.

      Below the line for heaven ― the Chinese added horizontal lines for man ― and earth ― and unified them with a connecting vertical line ｜ symbolizing the king or ruler. They drew the kanji 王, meaning king. Used either by itself or in compound words it is pronounced Ō. A 女王, JO-Ō, woman-king, is a queen. An 王子, ŌJI, king-child, is a prince.

      The Chinese put a cover over heaven, man, earth, and ruler 王 to symbolize everything, the whole, completely. They wrote the final kanji 全, meaning the whole or complete. Used as a word by itself it is pronounced MATTAKU (with the grammatical ending KU, indicating it is an adverb, written with a kana), an expressive word meaning completely, entirely, perfectly, totally, absolutely, or just the opposite: not at all, not in the least. In compound words it is pronounced ZEN. 全体 ZENTAI, whole-body, means all, the whole, generally. 全力 ZENRYOKU, whole-strength, means with all your might.

      The Chinese doubled 大 big and made it , meaning very big. Then, instead of writing two bigs, one atop the other, they just used a ditto mark ヽ at the bottom of the first “big” and made the final kanji 太. It means fat or very big. It is pronounced FUTOI or FUTORU when it forms a word by itself. When it is used in compound words, 太 is pronounced TAI or TA.

      The same man standing, this time with his arms pulled in toward his sides signified smallness. The Chinese drew it first , and then in final form 小. It means small, in the sense of size. Used by itself it is pronounced CHĪSAI (an adjective, needing two kana, SA and I to write CHĪSAI, since the kanji 小 itself only represents CHĪ). In compounds it is pronounced KO or SHŌ.

      To symbolize “small” in the sense of quantity, meaning few, the Chinese drew a bottom under 小 small to indicate that that was it, nothing more. The final form was 少, meaning a few or a little. Used by itself it is pronounced SUKOSHI or SUKUNAI. Used in compound words with other kanji 少 is pronounced SHŌ.

      The Chinese represented just plain “standing” by a person standing, this time not in the abstract but on the ground . They first squared it off to , and finally wrote it 立. It means to stand or to rise up. As a word by itself it is pronounced TATSU (the intransitive verb form, meaning stand up yourself), TATERU (the transitive verb form, meaning stand or raise something else up), or TACHI. Used in proper names it is generally pronounced TACHI. Used in compound