Skip to content
道Nihongo Path

Word 3925 of 4449

Save Sign in to track

当て字

あてじ

phonetic-equivalent character; kanji used for sound rather than meaning; substitute character

By Nihongo PathUpdated

Examples

  1. 「珈琲」は当て字です。

    「こーひー」はあてじです。

    The kanji spelling of 'coffee' is a phonetic substitution.

  2. この名前の漢字は当て字なので、読み方が分かりにくい。

    このなまえのかんじはあてじなので、よみかたがわかりにくい。

    The kanji in this name are used purely for sound, so the reading is hard to guess.

  3. 明治時代には外国の地名に当て字を使うのが普通だった。

    めいじじだいにはがいこくのちめいにあてじをつかうのがふつうだった。

    In the Meiji era it was normal to write foreign place names with phonetic kanji.

Common patterns

当て字を使う
to use phonetic kanji
当て字で書く
to write with phonetic kanji
当て字の名前
a name written with phonetic kanji

Memory tip

当てる means 'to assign / to apply', so 当て字 is a character assigned for its sound with the meaning ignored — 亜米利加 for America, 目出度い for めでたい. Many words in this very list (軈て, 碌に, 玩具) are written with 当て字.

Kanji in this word

Quick check

1 / 2Multiple choiceDifficulty 4 of 5

What does 当て字 mean?