Notes on Kanji
Notes for myself to make some characters easier to remember.
遣 つか・う/わす ケン
Easily confused with 遺 (e.g. 遺産), which has almost the same outward shape, or perhaps also 追 (e.g. 追加).
The ケン on’yomi is used almost exclusively in 派遣.
The phonetic component 𠳋 does not seem to be used much elsewhere, but it is apparently related to 官 (カン). The lower part of it represents a wrapped object (“preserved meat for a military expedition”, says 新漢語林), the upper part represents two hands handling it. (Cf. 遺, where the phonetic is 貴, which could be analyzed in a similar way, but instead of a vague wrapped object, there’s a cowrie shell 貝, representing money or valuables. Cf. 追 where the phonetic either is thought to represent meat offered to gods (says 新漢語林) or just a pile of objects.)
派遣, which is most often used as a verb 派遣する: to send, dispatch (someone oficially to fulfil a mission), also as a stand-alone noun or in compounds: 派遣会社, 派遣先, 派遣社員, 派遣労働（者）, 派遣事業, etc.
Most common objects of the verb 派遣する:
- 調査団を 第二に、日本の国際協力事業団が事前に調査団を派遣し、調査をする。 (日本共産党国会議員団鈴木宗男疑惑追及チーム著 『ムネオ疑惑追及300日』, 2002, 312)
- 使節団を 幕府は開国後、都合七回欧米に使節団を派遣している。 (山川暁著 『ニッポン靴物語』, 1986, 584)
- 専門家を 日本から、この分野の専門家を派遣したどうでしょうか。 (Yahoo!ブログ, 2008, Yahoo!ブログ)
- 自衛隊を 日本は復興支援という形ですが、武装した自衛隊を海外に派遣しました。 (平沼赳夫著 『新国家論』, 2005, 310)
- 職員を この二月にも私どもの検査職員を米国に派遣しまして、… (国会会議録, 2001, その他)
- ○○隊を 航空隊をフィリピンへ派遣する
析 セキ: see 訴
訴 うった・える ソ
May be confused with: 析 (分析), 斥 (排斥), both of which are read セキ. This one is ソ.
This has nothing to do with the historical development, but might help:
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斥: Imagine chopping wood: your axe (斤) breaks, its head detaches from the handle and is propelled into the air (thus the meaning “reject, repel, expel”). Reading is セキ.
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析: Think of taking apart something physical (some wooden structure using an axe). Reading is also セキ.
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訴: Think of accusing, complaining using words: expulsion (斥) of words (言). Remember the word 訴訟 (ソショウ, lawsuit) for the reading.
掃（除）, （夫）婦, 帰（国）
Same “phonetic”, entirely different reading (ソウ, フ, キ).
酸 サン (e.g. 酸素)
The same phonetic is in 示唆・唆す、俊才、駿才 and the readings kind of similar (サ, シュン)
Different from 窓・総（ソウ）
宣 セン
I keep forgetting the upper line and pronunciation. The pronunciation is easy (just think of 宣伝, 宣言.)
The phonetic 亘 means “to extend (from one point to another)”, so it has two lines: both above and below the circular symbol 日 (as a standalone character it could be read わた・る, now it’s obsolete and used mostly in names). That said, as a phonetic 亘 is not very useful one (恒例の恒 reads コウ, while 石垣の垣 あis almost always read in kun’yomi かき), but one could see its meaning reflected in all three characters (宣, 恒 and 垣). Don’t confuse with 旦 (タン, 一旦), which has only one line and represents “sun rising over horizon”.
朝, 幹, 乾, 韓 (also in less common characters: 書翰の翰、斡旋の斡）
All three have the same left component, a phonetic カン (at least in 幹, 乾, 韓), “(sun) rising high”. In all of them the radical is somewhere in the right part, but it’s not difficult to connect them with the image of a sun rising high. (I sometimes write 車 instead, which is often a radical and a represents a very different concept of course.)
請 こ・う、う・ける セイ、シン
Two on’yomi, two kun’yomi:
- 普請 [フシン]: construction: 家を普請する, 普請中の家
- 両親に結婚の許しを請う。許可を請うた [こう、！こうた]
- 請求 [セイキュウ]: demand: 支払いを請求する
- その会社は新しい仕事を請け負った。[うけおった]
泉・線・腺 [せん]、原・源 [ゲン]・願 [ガン] 、綿 [メン]・錦 [キン]
I often do a mistake in the part below 白 (水・小・巾). Follow these rules:
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Write 小 if and only if there is a 厂. (This is due to simplification, the element is actually derived from 泉. Imagine there isn’t enough space under 厂 to write the full form.)
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Write 巾 if it has to do something with fabric. (帛 is not derived from 泉. Think of white cloth (白+巾), hence cotton (綿), brocade (錦).)
壊・懐、環・還
監・覧・鑑・臨
病床に臥す 監 カン oversee 鑑 カン specimen, learn from (金) 覧 ラン み・る perusal, see ご覧 (見) 臨 リン のぞ・む look to, face, meet, attend (品) 臥床
卯卵柳、仰迎印
恨痕根懇（銀・開墾）x即退
征伐、財閥（察する