Quote:
Originally Posted by StoryEnthusiast
Even though the Japanese language uses a lot of Chinese characters, we need to be aware that over time their meanings may have changed. For example, 妖精 in Japanese is "fairy" but in Chinese is "evil spirit".
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Don't forget that almost all characters have multiple meanings. The meaning in Japanese doesn't always correspond to the most common meaning in Chinese, but the same meaning usually also exists. Take Japanese i-ku 行 (to go). In Chinese it is usually used as "that works", but can also be used as the second part of 銀行 (bank). But in combinations such as 行動 (to get going) and 行程 (travel itinerary) the Japanese meaning, or something close to it, does exist.