院

Over the last couple of days I have looked at the first two kanji in the word 孤児院 (kojiin) or orphanage. Today we will focus on 院.

院　- IN - institution

Let's look at the elements that make the kanji. On the left we have a radical that means hill (it looks a lot like a flag fluttering on a hilltop), and on the right 完 (kan) meaning completion. To remember it let's imagine the institution was completed on the hilltop.

Here are some common compunds containing 院：

病院 - byouin - hospital
医院 - iin - clinic
入院する - nyuuin suru - enter hospital
退院 - taiin - leave hospital
大学院 - daigakuin - graduate school
美容院 - biyouin - beauty parlor, hairdresser's
参議院 - sangiin - Upper House of Councilors
衆議院 - shuugiin - Lower House of Representatives
修道院 - shuudouin - monastery, convent

Incidentally, if you are at all interested in donating to the 孤児院 Intyatyambo please visit their website at the highlighted link. They would be very grateful.

児

Yesterday, inspired by my visit to the Intyatyambo orphanage in South Africa, I introduced the word 孤児院 meaning orphange and looked at the first kanji 孤. Today let's take a look at 児.

児　－　JI / NI - ko - child or infant

Not so difficult to remember this one. Small children have very large heads in proportion with the rest of their body so just imagine this kanji as representing one large head with a hungry mouth in it balanced precariously on a pair of tottering legs.

Here are some kanji compounds with 児：

幼児　- youji - an infant, a little child
園児　- enji - a kindergarten child
児童　- jidou - children, pupils
小児科 - shounika - pediatrics
小児語 - shounigo - baby talk
胎児 - taiji - embryo
風雲児 - fuunji - a bold opportunist in troubled times (!)
稚児 - chigo (special reading) - a child in a festival procession

孤

This week I have been telling my students about the Intyatyambo orphanage I visited on a recent trip to South Africa and thus inadvertently learnt the following words:

孤児　－　こじ　－ orphan　
孤児院　－　こじいん　－ orphanage

The meaning of the kanji are as follows: solitary + child + institution. Sad little words, aren't they?

I think it's worth taking a look at each kanji individually so today let's focus on 孤 and first of all its component parts. The left part of the kanji is 子 (SHI - ko) meaning child. The component on the right is 瓜 which is usually red as URI and means melon, gourd or cucurbit. うり bears more than a passing resemblance to 爪 (TSUME) meaning nail or claw. Just remember that URI has an extra nail on the bottom there and TSUME (meaning nail) does not. Or as my kanji dictionary says: 「うり（瓜）につめあり、つめ（爪）につめなし」。Now, why child + gourd should denote solitude, I have no idea, but just imagine a poor solitary bairn with only one single solitary gourd to play with and the kanji should stick in your mind.

Incidentally, 瓜 has some interesting idioms attached to it:

うりのつるになすびはならぬ。

Literally: gourd vines won't make eggplants, or as we might say "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear."

And 瓜二つである is equivalent to as alike as two peas in a pod.

Getting back to 孤 (KO), be sure not to confuse it with super similar 弧 (KO) which has a a bow component on the left and thus describes an arc. Here are some words containing 孤:

孤独 - kodoku - solitude (there's a very nice shochu called 百年の孤独 - one hundred years of solitude).
孤島 - kotou - a remote or desert island
孤立 - koritsu - isloation
孤高 - kokou - aloof
孤城 - kojou - an isolated or besieged castle

Tomorrow we will look at 児.