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- "かばん"
84 Comments
Good topic!
'Bag' is translated 鞄/カバン in other words バッグ. I think that 'バッグ' is ハンドバッグhand bag, ショルダーバッグ/shoulder bag and トートバッグ/totebag, etc. I don't know these words are used as the same in English and Japanese well. Perhaps they are similar. (somebody help me.)
And 'bag' is translated the word '袋/ふくろ' as well. I assume that the 'plastic bag' is a bag that is prepared at supermarchets or convinience stores. It is called 'レジ袋/れじぶくろ'. You can search for about 'レジ袋' in wiki. Also there are the words 'ビニール袋/びにーるぶくろ', 'ポリ袋/ぽりぶくろ'.
Though I'm not sure. If people in 'Kansai dialects' maybe say 'ナイロン袋/ないろんぶくろ'.
関西/Kansai dialects is Osaka and around Osaka. (This explanation is pretty rough. >_<)
A lot of it is katakana, which is Japan's other syllabary. The sounds are all the same, they're just written differently. The use of hiragana or katakana depends on the context. Loadwords from other languages, such as バケツ (baketsu, bucket) are often written in katakana, while native japanese words are written in hiragana.
1004
Wiktionary says: "From Dutch kop and also from Portugueae copo. Cognate (via Late Latin cuppa) with カップ (kappu), from English cup.
So コップ is from Dutch/Portuguese and カップ is from English cup.
377
Japanese here. That kanji is not an uncommon one. The common kanji list is not reliable, as there are many more characters that are quite commonly used that don't make the list (e.g. 萎、which means "to wither" is quite commonly used but isn't part of the common list).
To see how often each kanji might be used in common media, refer to: https://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/bunkashingikai/kokugo/nihongokyoiku_hyojun_wg/04/pdf/91934501_08.pdf.
1004
Wiktionary says for etymology: "鞄 (kaban, "bag") + 語 (go, "word"), calque of English portmanteau word.
So in short, 語 can also mean "word" and then it is the "word" part of "portmanteau word"
Just for our information because the comments confused me a bit I looked it up:
According to both Tangorin.com and Jisho.org かばん《鞄》カバン (Ka ba n) is a "bag; satchel; briefcase; basket" and when you click on the Kanji it includes "suitcase" as a definition.
Hope this is helpful.
I'm wondering if there is a difference between how you make the Japanese "k" sound and the English "k" sound. Maybe it varies more than English according to the vowel that follows? Or maybe they're just different? Or there are regional accents we're listening to? I don't hear a "k" at the beginning of this word. What I'm hearing sounds like an h, or maybe maybe it's like a German ch or a Hebrew h.
You're right that it's vague, but something to consider is that かばん does not only mean a pocketbook, but can also be a briefcase, a messenger bag, or any other kind of sturdy bag that keeps it shape. In my dialect of English, it's normal to call any of those things a "bag", but obviously context is needed to differentiate them from other kinds of bags.