Today’s Kanji – 語 (go, kataru) Word, Language – Learn Japanese

The kanji “go” (語) is an important component in the Japanese language, as it is used to represent the concept of “word” or “language”. The kanji is made up of two parts: 言 (gen) which means “speak” or “say”, and 吾 (go) which is an ancient character used to refer to the first person singular.

The 言 (gen) part is particularly interesting, as it is used as a key component in many other kanji related to language and communication. This component is made up of two smaller parts: 言 (koto) which means “word” and 口 (kuchi) which means “mouth”. This visual composition of the kanji reminds us of the connection between words and the act of speaking.

The second part of the kanji “go” is 吾 (go), which is used to represent the first person singular. Although not commonly used in modern words, it can be found in archaic terms or in proper names.

When 言 (gen) and 吾 (go) are combined, the kanji 語 (go) is formed, which reads “go”. This kanji is used to represent the idea of “word” or “language”. It is also used as a suffix to indicate the language in compound words. For example,英語 (eigo) means “English” and日本語 (nihongo) means “Japanese”. In these cases, 語 (go) is added to the name of the country to form the name of the language.

The kanji “go” is essential to the Japanese language, as it is part of many words and compounds related to language and communication. It is a visual reminder of the importance of words and how they are used to express thoughts, emotions and ideas.