Where to check if a word is used with kanji or not?


Some words have kanji for them, but the hiragana version is used instead. I
come across some words that I'm unsure if they are most commonly used with
kanji or hiragana. Is there any website to check if a word should be written
with kanji?




There's no absolute rule on this, but there are several rules of thumb:

> Grammatical constructs use hiragana, semantic constructs use kanji.

The word 来る・くる is used both semantically to mean "to arrive", and
grammatically, in a general sense of arrival or completion.

Consider: 東京に来た。 versus そろそろいい天気になってきた。

Since the grammatical sense is used; hiragana is used.

> Animal, fruit, and plant names are written with kana.

While most animals and plants native to traditional Chinese sphere of
influence _have_ kanji, they are rarely used in Japanese. (There are some
exceptions, such as 梅{うめ}, but the use of kana, especially katakana, is
exceedingly common.) This likely stems from the fact that a great many animal,
fruit and plant name kanji are obscenely complicated, such as 蝶{チョウ}, 鰐{ワニ},
or 鶴{ツル}.

> Simple and commonly used words tend towards kana.

良{い}い, 為{す}る, 居{い}る and 有{あ}る, to name a few. Reasons for this are twofold:
They are words that are used _a lot_ , and even if replacing the strictly
grammatical uses with kana, that still leaves a fair few of them on any given
page. Not only were the standards for what is written in kana and what is
written in kanji solidified well before the advent of computers, leaving
writing them a chore, plastering the same kanji all over any given page leads
to semantic satiation, and just makes the text harder to read.

As an additional complication, some of these words have a lot of subtleties
and multiple candidates for the correct kanji, so at some point it's easier to
slap the kana on there and call it a day. (有る vs. 在る, anyone?)

> The names of other countries are written using kana.

Almost all country names have some manner of [当て字]{あてじ} alternative available,
but these are hardly ever used. They will sometimes be used in newspaper
headlines by first character alone, but in general there are only 6 exceptions
to this of which I am aware: Japan, Koreas North and South, China, England and
America. 日本, 韓国, 北朝鮮, and 中国 aren't 当て字, and short of spelling them out, don't
really have a kana alternative. For England and America, however, 英国{えいこく} and
米国{べいこく} are seen with some regularity, at least when compared to 仏国{フランス},
独国{ドイツ} or 西国{スペイン}; go right ahead and forget about seeing stuff like
諾国{ノールウェー}, 玖瑪{キューバ} or 阿富汗斯{アフガニスタン}.

> ([Girls'] given) names are ultimately arbitrary.

When it comes to people's given names, whether they are written one way or the
other is completely arbitrary, and down to the personal opinion of the name
holder, or, as is more often the case, the name giver.

This is particularly the case with girls names. There are some historical
reasons for this, and it mostly affects girl's names; for boys names kanji is
usually a safe bet. (This is particularly caused by girls up until somewhat
recently only learning hiragana, so girls' names using hiragana has become
something of a tradition.)

Small wonder business cards are popular in Japan.

> Set phrase? Hiragana.

There are a number of set phrases that defy the general rules: いってきます, ありがとう
and おめでとう spring to mind.

These very much _have_ kanji alternatives, but they are hardly ever used
outside of period pieces, because they are only rarely written down. (行って来ます,
有難う and 御目出度う for the above, by the way.)

For set phrases, hiragana is the way to go.

> Still in doubt? Use kana.

If you don't know if you're using a verb grammatically or semantically as part
of a set phrase, use hiragana. If, when a word _sounds_ like it'd use the
訓読み{くんよみ} and you don't know what kanji to use, use hiragana. If it's a girl's
name, you don't know the kanji, and you can't ask, use hiragana. Is it a
fruit, plant or animal, and you've not seen it written using kanji outside of
scholarly contexts? Use katakana.

> Form your own style of writing.

There are not a lot of hard and fast rules, and it's difficult to make your
writing unreadable, so long as you don't do stuff like ALL KATAKANA ALL THE
TIME or write Chinesque "loan" words with kana. If you know 有る from 在る,
there's no harm in using the kanji; and it can lend a personal touch to your
writing, so long as it's used consciously, consistently and judiciously.

Personally, I like using kanji for animal names. It's a quirk. (ニコニコ)




There's no absolute rule on this, but there are several rules of thumb:

> Grammatical constructs use hiragana, semantic constructs use kanji.

The word 来る・くる is used both semantically to mean "to arrive", and
grammatically, in a general sense of arrival or completion.

Consider: 東京に来た。 versus そろそろいい天気になってきた。

Since the grammatical sense is used; hiragana is used.

> Animal, fruit, and plant names are written with kana.

While most animals and plants native to traditional Chinese sphere of
influence _have_ kanji, they are rarely used in Japanese. (There are some
exceptions, such as 梅{うめ}, but the use of kana, especially katakana, is
exceedingly common.) This likely stems from the fact that a great many animal,
fruit and plant name kanji are obscenely complicated, such as 蝶{チョウ}, 鰐{ワニ},
or 鶴{ツル}.

> Simple and commonly used words tend towards kana.

良{い}い, 為{す}る, 居{い}る and 有{あ}る, to name a few. Reasons for this are twofold:
They are words that are used _a lot_ , and even if replacing the strictly
grammatical uses with kana, that still leaves a fair few of them on any given
page. Not only were the standards for what is written in kana and what is
written in kanji solidified well before the advent of computers, leaving
writing them a chore, plastering the same kanji all over any given page leads
to semantic satiation, and just makes the text harder to read.

As an additional complication, some of these words have a lot of subtleties
and multiple candidates for the correct kanji, so at some point it's easier to
slap the kana on there and call it a day. (有る vs. 在る, anyone?)

> The names of other countries are written using kana.

Almost all country names have some manner of [当て字]{あてじ} alternative available,
but these are hardly ever used. They will sometimes be used in newspaper
headlines by first character alone, but in general there are only 6 exceptions
to this of which I am aware: Japan, Koreas North and South, China, England and
America. 日本, 韓国, 北朝鮮, and 中国 aren't 当て字, and short of spelling them out, don't
really have a kana alternative. For England and America, however, 英国{えいこく} and
米国{べいこく} are seen with some regularity, at least when compared to 仏国{フランス},
独国{ドイツ} or 西国{スペイン}; go right ahead and forget about seeing stuff like
諾国{ノールウェー}, 玖瑪{キューバ} or 阿富汗斯{アフガニスタン}.

> ([Girls'] given) names are ultimately arbitrary.

When it comes to people's given names, whether they are written one way or the
other is completely arbitrary, and down to the personal opinion of the name
holder, or, as is more often the case, the name giver.

This is particularly the case with girls names. There are some historical
reasons for this, and it mostly affects girl's names; for boys names kanji is
usually a safe bet. (This is particularly caused by girls up until somewhat
recently only learning hiragana, so girls' names using hiragana has become
something of a tradition.)

Small wonder business cards are popular in Japan.

> Set phrase? Hiragana.

There are a number of set phrases that defy the general rules: いってきます, ありがとう
and おめでとう spring to mind.

These very much _have_ kanji alternatives, but they are hardly ever used
outside of period pieces, because they are only rarely written down. (行って来ます,
有難う and 御目出度う for the above, by the way.)

For set phrases, hiragana is the way to go.

> Still in doubt? Use kana.

If you don't know if you're using a verb grammatically or semantically as part
of a set phrase, use hiragana. If, when a word _sounds_ like it'd use the
訓読み{くんよみ} and you don't know what kanji to use, use hiragana. If it's a girl's
name, you don't know the kanji, and you can't ask, use hiragana. Is it a
fruit, plant or animal, and you've not seen it written using kanji outside of
scholarly contexts? Use katakana.

> Form your own style of writing.

There are not a lot of hard and fast rules, and it's difficult to make your
writing unreadable, so long as you don't do stuff like ALL KATAKANA ALL THE
TIME or write Chinesque "loan" words with kana. If you know 有る from 在る,
there's no harm in using the kanji; and it can lend a personal touch to your
writing, so long as it's used consciously, consistently and judiciously.

Personally, I like using kanji for animal names. It's a quirk. (ニコニコ)

