Jisho

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2 Replies ・ Started by dangdrjay at 2023-04-17 06:40:43 UTC ・ Last reply by Fredora at 2023-04-17 22:29:41 UTC
This is a discussion about 痴漢

Why is the word groping; molestor have the "China" kanji in it?

This word and many other words with a negative connotation have the "China" kanji in it. I'm curious as to why that is.

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Leebo at 2023-04-17 11:29:02 UTC

The character 漢 also means "man."

https://www.kanjipedia.jp/kanji/0001100400
See the kunyomi of おとこ and meaning #3 on that page.

Why they used that kanji to represent "man" is another conversation I suppose. But, remember, kanji are themselves from China, so I suppose using a kanji that represents your own people to represent "man" is not that strange for the time they were developed.

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Fredora at 2023-04-17 22:29:41 UTC

Yeah, the second part of this word means man or person.
With the meaning of "idiot" this word's actually been attested in China since the seventh century.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E7%97%B4%E6%BC%A2#Etymology_1

The meaning of "Chinese" for the Kanji "漢" comes from it being also the first kanji used for the Han-Dynasty (漢朝) which is a dynasty that became representative for the whole of China or at least for the Han-Chinese people which make up around 90% of the Chinese population.

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