Japanese Yojijyukugo – four-character idiomatic compounds

10 Sep 2009 Leave a Comment

by thebaboose in Japan Tags: Advance Japanese, four-character idiomatic compounds, Japanese, Japanese language, Yojijyukugo

http://www.flickr.com/photos/peter3060/2050494752/

Here’s a translation I did of an article on Yojijyukugo on Wikipedia Japan.

In Japan, many phrases and idioms are derived from the amalgamation of two nouns to form a new noun: for example, the noun yudantaiteki (油断大敵), when dissected becomes yudan (油断) – unprepared; taiteki (大敵) – greatest enemy. When combined becomes “unpreparedness (not a real word) is one’s greatest enemy.” In Japan, these types of phrases are called idiomatic yojijyukugo (四字熟語) or four-character idiomatic compounds – which refers to “Four-kanji compounds that have a particular (idiomatic) meaning that cannot be inferred from the meanings of the words that make them up.”

There is another type of yojijyukugo called non-idiomatic yojijyukugo, which Wikipedia describes most as having, “No idiomatic meanings beyond the literal meanings of its components,” and gives a good example of one:

For example, the compound word 屋内禁煙 okunaikin’en “No smoking indoors.” is a non-idiomatic yojijukugo. It is made up of four characters: 屋 oku building, 内 nai inside, 禁 kin prohibited, and 煙 en smoking.

I don’t find non-idiomatic yojijyukugo interesting. Most have only a literal meaning that can be deduced easily if you can understand the individual characters – and thus needs no explanation. For that reason, I will only post examples of yojijukugo.

Here’s an example of an yojijukugo that is derived from English:

1. 一石二鳥 Issekinichou (1 stone, 2 birds) is derived from the English phrase “kill two birds with one stone”

Here’s a list of idioms with similar counterparts in English:

1. 油断大敵 Yudantaiteki (unpreparedness is one’s greatest enemy) and its English counterpart: Security is the greatest enemy.
2. 臨機応変 Rinkiouhen (adapting oneself to the requirements of the moment) and its English counterpart: Circumstances alter cases
3. 弱肉強食 Jyakunikukyoushoku (the strong eats and the weak becomes meat) and its English counterpart: The law of the jungle/The survival of the fittest.
4. 一期一会 Ichigoichie (once-in-a-lifetime encounter – hence should be cherished as such)

Here’s a list of idioms that have no English counterparts:

1. 才色兼備 saishokukenbi (being gifted with both intelligence and beauty)

For those interested in learning more yojijukugo, and through it, Japanese culture, I recommend checking out Wikipedia’s entry on it here

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