(2015-11-30, 7:21 pm)angelneko Wrote: I don't know why but this
儒艮
Yea like the pokemon.
Stumbled upon by accident so maybe that's why it strikes me.
儒 is confucianism...  Interesting.

(2015-11-30, 8:09 pm)yudantaiteki Wrote: It's originally a Malaysian word so the characters are just used for sound.

名称
属名、英名はマレー語 duyung がフィリピンで使われているタガログ語経由で入ったもので、「海の貴婦人」（lady of the sea）の意味だという。 「儒艮」は当て字。
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B8%...4%E3%83%B3

If the interpretation is taken from the Japanese wikipedia, that is not entirely correct since Duyung is the term used in Bahasa Indonesia and Basa Jawa, whereas Dugong  is the term used in Bahasa Melayu and Tagalog.

On the left-side panel 他言語版, it may have better explanation in those countries languages.

(2015-12-01, 7:09 am)waynelam8 Wrote: 別腹 (べつばら)
Having room for dessert despite being full

しけこむ
slip into [shack up in] 《a hotel to have sex》;
keep to one's ¬room [house, quarters] and mope [in a sullen mood].

I like how the meaning changes depending on whether you're doing it with another person.

紅白　こうはく
黄白　こうはく

So... is the dress red and white or yellow and white? No way to know in spoken conversation!

きょうだい
The it means "siblings" but the kanji can change, depending on what kind (big brother-little brother, big sister-little brother, etc).
Here's what the dictionary says about it, so you can see all the different combinations:
間柄を指定したり性別を示したりしたいときなど、「兄弟（兄と弟）」「姉弟」「兄妹」「姉妹」「兄姉」「弟妹」などとも書く。それぞれ「けいてい」「してい」「けいまい」「しまい」「けいし」「ていまい」とも読む。

^wow! I wonder if it's the norm to know all of these variations of "siblings" in Japan

Hmm... I've only ever heard きょうだい being said, but that might just be because I was previously unaware that those combinations could be read any other way. Has anyone else seen or heard those other readings being used before?

Well, 姉妹 is usually しまい.

(2015-12-25, 8:21 pm)Vempele Wrote: Well, 姉妹 is usually しまい.

Yes, this. It's generally きょうだい for any siblings except a pair of sisters who are しまい. However, any of the sibling words can be read きょうだい as the general word for 'siblings', or they can be read for the specific relationship. Using the special readings (except しまい) is extremely unusual and would only be done if you had a specific reason to emphasize the exact gender/age relationships of the siblings, -and- in a context where you wouldn't risk being misunderstood with the unusual reading. So very, very rare. I don't believe I've ever heard the other sibling relations spoken although I could've missed it at some point... but it's almost always きょうだい or しまい.

Maybe a couple or three times I've seen them written with furigana for the specific relationship. I've much more often seen specific relationships like 兄妹 with the furigana きょうだい than I've seen the special pronunciation. The usual is of course to write the specific relationship without any furigana, but the rest of my experiences suggest they are usually read きょうだい for everything except 姉妹.