早
Early, Fast
| on’yomi | kun’yomi | Radicals |
|---|---|---|
| そう | はや.い | 日 + 十 |
Meaning: Early, Fast
When the sun is over the cross it’s time to go to church… which is so darn early.
Imagine the sun coming up slowly, over the horizon. It then lines up with the cross, and at that moment, your alarm goes off, waking you up. You check the alarm clock, and instead of displaying the time, it just says early on it, flashing in big red letters.
Reading: そう
To remember そう we use the word “sew” – You wake up really early to go to church. When you arrive and go inside, the doors slam behind you, and a couple of armed guards grab you and throw you forward to a desk with a sewing machine on it. They then yell at you “SEW!!” and you’re forced to start sewing. Church tricked you… it’s actually a sweat shop where you sew clothes for no pay, and now you’re stuck here.
Make sure to follow the whole story along (starting at the meaning) and make your way to the church. Open the door and go inside, and look around (probably all tired-like, because it’s early). When you just start to figure out what’s going on, you get the shock of being grabbed and thrown into a chair, and then you start sewing and keep sewing, until you feel your fingers numbing up.
Vocabulary
Learn the meanings of the words before moving on (and the readings as well, if you can).
a 早い（はやい）＝ Early
- Meaning: Same as the kanji. Now, this is not to be confused with 速い, which is also はやい, but means “quick”)
- Reading: There’s a good chance you already know this word from previous lessons (adjective ones). So, hopefully that’s the case, and this reading is super duper easy (all you need to do is associate the kanji with the word).
a 早々（そうそう）＝ Quickly, Promptly
- Combo: 早 (early, fast) + 々 (early, fast)
- Meaning: 々 repeats the kanji it comes after, so two “early” kanji means “quickly,” because you gotta get even more early.
- Reading: The on’yomi reading of the kanji twice.
a 早口（はやくち）＝ Fast Talker
- Combo: 早 (Early, Fast) + 口 (Mouth)
- Meaning: Someone with a fast mouth is a fast talker.
- Reading: Remember how body parts often use the kun’yomi reading, dragging all other kanji down into their kun’yomi hole? Same with this one, that’s why both are kun’yomi readings.