Thursday, September 07, 2006

New Vocabulary This Week

Here are a couple of interesting words I have come across this week in my readings. Take a look, and feel free to add to this list in the comments section. I'll try and do a vocabulary entry once a week with daily updates.

自業自得 【じごうじとく】paying for one's mistakes; getting one's just deserts; suffering the consequences (of one's own actions)

早とちり 【はやとちり】 jumping to a conclusion (see also 早合点【はやがてん】)

語呂合わせ; 語路合わせ; 語呂合せ; 語路合せ 【ごろあわせ】 rhyming game; play on words; pun

ひょっとして by any chance; (should) it happen (that)

泡銭 【あぶくぜに】 easy money

道理で 【どうりで】 indeed; it's no wonder

朝飯前 【あさめしまえ】 a trivial matter; a cinch to do; it's a piece of cake

先刻承知 【せんこくしょうち】being already (well) aware; to know something all along

9.7.06


真っ最中 【まっさいちゅう】 in the very act of doing; midst; middle of; height of

自縄自縛 【じじょうじばく】 being caught in one's own trap; put one's foot in one's mouth; be caught in a web of one's own making

うつ病 【うつびょう】 melancholia; depression

号外 【ごうがい】 newspaper extra/special edition

麻痺 【まひ】 paralysis; palsy; numbness; stupor

反省 【はんせい】 reflection; reconsideration; introspection; contemplation; self-examination; soul-searching

蒸発 【じょうはつ】 evaporation; unexplained disappearance

ネズミ捕り 【ねずみとり】 (1)rat poison; (2) mousetrap; rattrap; (3) speed trap

9.8.06

生計 【せいけい】 livelihood; living; bread and butter (を立てる=make a living)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

hey, i came here from the Jref website. i am going to take 3級 this december but am already studying for 2級 next year.

i like how you are studying idioms and 4文字熟語 as well. one that i know is 針小棒大 (しんしょうぼうだい) which i believe means to "exaggerate" something.

ill try to help with your blog as i am sure it will help me

jljzen88 said...

Great to have you on board, Yorkii! I remember reading some of your posts. Hope to see you around more often. Check for updates!

Anonymous said...

Another one for you: 自縄自縛 (じじょうじばく). "Hoist by your own petard", i.e. "falling into your own trap"

Anonymous said...

The best way to learn 四字熟語 in my opinion is by playing もっと脳を鍛える on the DS.

-Tae Kim

jljzen88 said...

I wanna try that. Saw an old lady at disney sea playing it while waiting in line. It looks HARD!

My girlfriend has a game on her keitai that is like that. It's pretty simple, but it's difficult...if that makes any sense!

Anonymous said...

Something that would be great if you wrote about in this blog would be "ending" verbs or whatever you call them.
Like ~hanasu, ~tsuzukeru, ~hajimeru and so on..

Jonathan
shinryuu.jp [at] gmail [dot] com