How to refer to the kanji used in a verb in speech?


Like if I wanted to refer to the 食 in 食べる do I say

>   1. 食べることの漢字 eating's kanji
>

or

>   2. 食べるの漢字 eating kanji
>

or

>   3. 食べるものの漢字 kanji of eating
>

or something else entirely? Also are my translations correct?




In short, you can treat a verb as a noun, when [you are mentioning it, not
using it](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use%E2%80%93mention_distinction), so
#2 can work. Trying to nominalize it (#1 and #3) will probably make it more
confusing. You might want to insert a very short pause after 食べる, before の.

In general, when you want to discuss kanji in speech, you usually point to
highly frequent (and unambiguous or nearly unambiguous) words containing the
kanji you want. You can use the on'yomi reading to refer to the kanji itself,
but since readings are highly ambiguous, they need to be disambiguated with
examples and explanations. Phrases below work:

> タベルのショク

> タベルというイミのショク

> ショクジのショク

If you want a sentence:

> ショクジのショクというカンジです。

(I intentionally avoided kanji here to imitate speech.)




In short, you can treat a verb as a noun, when [you are mentioning it, not
using it](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use%E2%80%93mention_distinction), so
#2 can work. Trying to nominalize it (#1 and #3) will probably make it more
confusing. You might want to insert a very short pause after 食べる, before の.

In general, when you want to discuss kanji in speech, you usually point to
highly frequent (and unambiguous or nearly unambiguous) words containing the
kanji you want. You can use the on'yomi reading to refer to the kanji itself,
but since readings are highly ambiguous, they need to be disambiguated with
examples and explanations. Phrases below work:

> タベルのショク

> タベルというイミのショク

> ショクジのショク

If you want a sentence:

> ショクジのショクというカンジです。

(I intentionally avoided kanji here to imitate speech.)

