Is there a term for whether kanji or kana is used?


Are there any terms (preferably used in English, but Japanese is also ok)
about whether a word is written in kanji or in kana?




I think this issue is precisely captured by the concept of _jōyō kanji_.

Dictionary entries will often look something like this (from _Daijirin_ )

>   * す・る 【刷る・▼摺る】
>   * する 【▽為る】
>

where

  * ▼摺 means that the _kanji_ 摺 is not a _jōyō kanji_ , and
  * ▽為 means that the _kanji_ 為 is a _jōyō kanji_ , but not with the reading 為る【する】.

In particular, from this information you can deduce the following:

  * 刷る "to print" is usually written with _kanji_
  * する "to do" is usually written in _kana_

I think you should replace the concepts of "usually _kanji_ " or "usually
_kana_ " by "is a _jōyō kanji_ (or reading)" or "is not a _jōyō kanji_ (or
reading)".

