Kanji Lesson 14

金 (キン、コン、かね、かな-)

Gold, Money

By mharrsch
CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Consists of the roof radical (), a horizontal line (一), the kanji for "earth" (土), and two additional dots. Notice that this kanji have some similarities to the "jade" kanji (玉) presented in lesson 5. The horizontal line represents the sky, and joined with earth (土) makes a "king" kanji (王). The two dots represent gold pieces. Golds are usually found buried under the earth, but their value is sky high. And as golds are commonly used as money in ancient times, their possession and distribution is ruled by the king, and of course, the king has the most gold. As for the roof radical, in ancient china, only the imperial palace may have a golden / yellow roof, as can be seen today in The Forbidden City. Notice that "gold" (金) have two dots while "jade" (玉) have only one dot. This can be seen as an implication of the Chinese saying mentioned in lesson 5: "Gold have a price, but Jade is priceless". The one dot vs. two dots can be seen as the "first place" vs. "second place", or the "rarest" vs. "less rare".

• お金 (おかね) Money
• 金曜日 (きんようび) Thursday

寸 (スン)

Measurement unit (around 3 - 4 cm)

Consist of a horizontal line, a vertical line, and a dot. The horizontal and vertical line is a part of the "hand" kanji (手) presented in lesson 5, showing only the thumb and middle finger. In Chinese, this kanji is read "cun", and is the measurement used to locate acupuncture points. In acupuncture, one "cun" is defined as either the length of the middle finger's middle segment, or the width of the thumb at the top knuckle (the one furthest away from the palm). This makes it very handy since the exact location of acupuncture point varies depending on each person's anatomy. The dot in this kanji marks the location of both the middle finger's middle segment and the thumb's top knuckle.   

By Stitch13th
CC BY-NC 2.0

村 (ソン、むら)

Village

Consists of the kanji for "tree" (木) and "small measurement" (寸). This kanji represents the characteristic of a village that's in close proximity (within small measurements) to the trees / woods.

• 中村 (なかむら) Nakamura (person's name)
• 木村 (きむら) Kimura (person's name)

足 (ソク、あし、た.りる、た.る、た.す)

Foot, Add, Sufficient

By Andrew Magill (Flickr)
CC BY 2.0

This kanji is a picture of a human foot seen from the side. The box-like element represents the bulge of the ankle (which is actually a part of the bones of the lower leg). The rotated "T"-like element under the bulge represents the lower part of the ankle joint (the talus bone) which connects the bones of the lower leg (above), the heel (below), and the midfoot (front), hence its rotated "T" shape. The last element, which consists of two strokes, represents the heel and the sole of the foot.

• 一足 (いっそく) Pair (footwear)
• 不足 (ふそく) Insufficiency, Deficiency

雨 (ウ、あめ、あま-)
Rain
This kanji is a picture of water drizzling from a valve, representing rain drops.

• 大雨 (おおあめ) Heavy rain
• 小雨 (こあめ) Light rain