5 ms·

入 means "enter", 口 means "mouth". 入口 means... "entrance". Actually for most kanji there is no single meaning. Some meanings might even have nothing in common wi

by Grue3 10y ago

入 means "enter", 口 means "mouth". 入口 means... "entrance". Actually for most kanji there is no single meaning. Some meanings might even have nothing in common with each other, because they've been based on ancient Chinese wordplay or something.

colejohnson66 10y ago
Entering the mouth of the building?
- force_reboot 10y ago
  Almost certainly. One fascinating aspect of language is that many metaphors that are baked into language appear in many languages. E.g. In English we can form the future tense with modal verbs, "I will..." and "I am going to..." and in Chinese there are similar modal verbs "我要..." and "我去...". In both languages the idea of intention, or motion, are used as a metaphor in forming the future tense. Or 加油, an expression of encouragement similar to "put your foot on it" which has no equivalent in English, but does in Danish, "giv det gas".
  - Symbiote 10y ago
    "Put your foot on it" means the accelerator / gas pedal, that seems very much equivalent.
    - force_reboot 10y ago
      I mean in English it isn't used as a generic encouragement, while in Mandarin and Danish it is.
  - gayprogrammer 10y ago
    put the pedal to the metal (idiomatic) To exert maximum effort. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/put_the_pedal_to_the_metal#English https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/put_the_pedal_to_the_metal#En...
    - force_reboot 10y ago
      Yes, that is an equivalent phrase, but much less commonly used than 加油 and "gi' det gas".
- minikomi 10y ago
  I think the character does double service in that it has meanings which are very much mouth-related - 薄口 (thin-mouthed - like weak taste) 後口 (after-mouth - after taste); but it also has a ton of meanings which are like opening / spout / hole / crater. http://compling.hss.ntu.edu.sg/omw/cgi-bin/wn-gridx.cgi?usrname=&gridmode=wnja&lang=jpn&lang2=eng&lemma=%E5%8F%A3 http://compling.hss.ntu.edu.sg/omw/cgi-bin/wn-gridx.cgi?usrn... It's not that a land's-mouth is a crater, more like, mouth and opening are more synonymous in feeling in Japanese.
edwinyzh 10y ago
But 口 also means "loophole", so 入口 means "entrance" is perfectly logical - "The loophole that allows you to enter another building/strucutre".
- a_bonobo 10y ago
  Fun coincidence: A vomitorium (any modern person associates that with vomiting, i.e., stuff coming out of your mouth) was the name for entrances in Roman amphitheatres.

by Grue3 10y ago

colejohnson66 10y ago

Entering the mouth of the building?

force_reboot 10y ago
Almost certainly. One fascinating aspect of language is that many metaphors that are baked into language appear in many languages. E.g. In English we can form the future tense with modal verbs, "I will..." and "I am going to..." and in Chinese there are similar modal verbs "我要..." and "我去...". In both languages the idea of intention, or motion, are used as a metaphor in forming the future tense. Or 加油, an expression of encouragement similar to "put your foot on it" which has no equivalent in English, but does in Danish, "giv det gas".
- Symbiote 10y ago
  "Put your foot on it" means the accelerator / gas pedal, that seems very much equivalent.
  - force_reboot 10y ago
    I mean in English it isn't used as a generic encouragement, while in Mandarin and Danish it is.
- gayprogrammer 10y ago
  put the pedal to the metal (idiomatic) To exert maximum effort. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/put_the_pedal_to_the_metal#English https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/put_the_pedal_to_the_metal#En...
  - force_reboot 10y ago
    Yes, that is an equivalent phrase, but much less commonly used than 加油 and "gi' det gas".
minikomi 10y ago
I think the character does double service in that it has meanings which are very much mouth-related - 薄口 (thin-mouthed - like weak taste) 後口 (after-mouth - after taste); but it also has a ton of meanings which are like opening / spout / hole / crater. http://compling.hss.ntu.edu.sg/omw/cgi-bin/wn-gridx.cgi?usrname=&gridmode=wnja&lang=jpn&lang2=eng&lemma=%E5%8F%A3 http://compling.hss.ntu.edu.sg/omw/cgi-bin/wn-gridx.cgi?usrn... It's not that a land's-mouth is a crater, more like, mouth and opening are more synonymous in feeling in Japanese.

edwinyzh 10y ago

But 口 also means "loophole", so 入口 means "entrance" is perfectly logical - "The loophole that allows you to enter another building/strucutre".

a_bonobo 10y ago
Fun coincidence: A vomitorium (any modern person associates that with vomiting, i.e., stuff coming out of your mouth) was the name for entrances in Roman amphitheatres.