441/2000

JLPT: N3

School Grade: 4th (9 years old)

This character is a combination of ⺅ the person radical and 列 line/row. 例 originally referred to “people lined up in proper order” but that eventually gave way to meanings of “comparison,” which led in turn to its present meanings.

440/2000

JLPT: N4

School Grade: 3rd (8 years old)

This character was formerly written 醫, which is a combination of an arrow (矢) in its quiver (匸), 殳 the weapon radical and 酉 wine jar, here indicating alcohol. Together it expressed “attack with alcohol,” which is a reference to the practice of using alcohol as a medicine. The meaning eventually expanded to refer to “healing” and “medicine.”

no1-leaves-the-nightosphere replied to your post: I finally received my JET placement today!!! I’m…

At least you’ll be in Japan!!!! LUCKY DUCK! Also Best wishes in japan :D

Haha I’m actually really happy that I’m getting to go at all~ For a while I didn’t think I was going to be getting into the program so now that it’s official I’m super excited!!! And I’m getting happier about my placement haha Thank you so much!!! ^^

hemerokarisu replied to your post: I finally received my JET placement today!!! I’m…

Congratulations! I heard Hokkaido has the best crab legs, if you’re into that.

Thank you!!! ^^ I actually am into that so I’ll be sure to eat a lot of crab legs while I’m there haha

I’m actually from the northern-ish part of the east coast, so if it were the same as here that would be awesome~! I’ve been searching up stuff about the area ever since I got the email and I’ve been finding lots of interesting stuff! I’m getting more and more excited haha >3< It seems like a great area~

ありがとう〜！！！(*^▽^*)

I finally received my JET placement today!!!

I’m going to be living in Toyako-cho, which is a town in Hokkaido!! Honestly, I was upset at first because I really didn’t want to live all the way up north, but after doing some research it seems like a really beautiful town and area~ ^^ I’m just sad that two of my friends who are also going to Japan through JET are going to be really far away from me…

_{(By the way you should check out their blogs!!! They’re both really awesome people~)}

439/2000

JLPT: N3

School Grade: 3rd (8 years old)

This character was formerly written 齒, and in its earliest forms was a pictograph of teeth in a mouth (口). 止 stop was added later to act as a phonetic element expressing “row.” Its bottom stroke has since fused with the top of 口 mouth. In its current form, the inner portion can be taken as 米 rice.

438/2000

JLPT: N2

School Grade: 3rd (8 years old)

This character is a combination of 木 tree and 直 straightaway. 木 provides semantic meaning while 直 is a phonetic element.

437/2000

JLPT: N3

School Grade: 4th (9 years old)

This character is a combination of 月 flesh/meat, 犬 a character meaning dog, and 灬 the fire radical. Originally, 然 meant to roast dog meat, and came to mean “roast” or “burn” in a more general sense. However, while 然 can still occasionally be used this way in Chinese, in Japanese 燃 has instead taken on this meaning (然 plus and extra 火 fire). 然 itself was borrowed phonetically to express “thus/duly/as things should be.”

436/2000

JLPT: N2

School Grade: 3rd (8 years old)

This character is a combination of ⻖ the mound/terraced hill radical and 皆 a character meaning all. Here 皆 is acting phonetically to express “row,” giving “row of terraces on a hillside.” 階 has now come to mean “step” or “graduation” in a broader sense.