The basis for kanji frequency


What is the basis for kanji frequency? For example, 悠{ゆう｝ has the Frequency of
1921 in the kanji dictionary of Yomichan. What does it mean? Does it mean that
in everyday conversation or in newspapers published every day, 悠{ゆう｝ is being
used 1921 times? Also, is the frequency of a kanji the same in all the
dictionaries?




Your post contains multiple questions. Let me try to answer each of them.

> What is the basis for kanji frequency?

As I've understood them, these lists are based on statistical analyses of
various corpora -- sets of documents, often newspapers, magazines, websites,
and so forth. The basic method is to count the occurrences of each kanji, and
then rank them by frequency. Frithany commented with a link to one such
frequency list.

> For example, 悠{ゆう} has the Frequency of 1921 in the kanji dictionary of
> Yomichan. What does it mean?

A frequency ranking of 1921 in such a list simply means that that kanji is
used less frequently than the preceding 1920 kanji, and more frequently than
any kanji coming later in the list.

> Does it mean that in everyday conversation or in newspapers published every
> day, 悠{ゆう｝is being used 1921 times?

No. A frequency of 1921 does **not** mean that that kanji is used 1921 times.
See the above comment.

> Also, is the frequency of a kanji the same in all the dictionaries?

Frequency lists are quite variable, and are only kinda-sorta useful for
getting a ballpark idea of how common each kanji is.

The reason for this variability is that each frequency list is based on a
different corpus -- a different set of documents. For instance, frequency
lists are often based in part on trends in newspaper usage, and that changes
from year to year: not only do writing styles change, but the content of the
articles also changes, and even the kanji used to spell people's names change
over time as different spellings become popular or fall out of use. _(Note:
the spelling for a specific person's name probably doesn't change over time.
However,[there are many different ways to spell the given name
"Megumi",](http://nihongo.monash.edu/cgi-bin/wwwjdic?2MUJMegumi) for example,
and parents will choose different spellings depending on all kinds of factors,
leading to different spellings becoming more common or unusual as time
passes.)_




Your post contains multiple questions. Let me try to answer each of them.

> What is the basis for kanji frequency?

As I've understood them, these lists are based on statistical analyses of
various corpora -- sets of documents, often newspapers, magazines, websites,
and so forth. The basic method is to count the occurrences of each kanji, and
then rank them by frequency. Frithany commented with a link to one such
frequency list.

> For example, 悠{ゆう} has the Frequency of 1921 in the kanji dictionary of
> Yomichan. What does it mean?

A frequency ranking of 1921 in such a list simply means that that kanji is
used less frequently than the preceding 1920 kanji, and more frequently than
any kanji coming later in the list.

> Does it mean that in everyday conversation or in newspapers published every
> day, 悠{ゆう｝is being used 1921 times?

No. A frequency of 1921 does **not** mean that that kanji is used 1921 times.
See the above comment.

> Also, is the frequency of a kanji the same in all the dictionaries?

Frequency lists are quite variable, and are only kinda-sorta useful for
getting a ballpark idea of how common each kanji is.

The reason for this variability is that each frequency list is based on a
different corpus -- a different set of documents. For instance, frequency
lists are often based in part on trends in newspaper usage, and that changes
from year to year: not only do writing styles change, but the content of the
articles also changes, and even the kanji used to spell people's names change
over time as different spellings become popular or fall out of use. _(Note:
the spelling for a specific person's name probably doesn't change over time.
However,[there are many different ways to spell the given name
"Megumi",](http://nihongo.monash.edu/cgi-bin/wwwjdic?2MUJMegumi) for example,
and parents will choose different spellings depending on all kinds of factors,
leading to different spellings becoming more common or unusual as time
passes.)_

