町
Town
| on’yomi | kun’yomi | Radicals |
|---|---|---|
| ちょう | まち | 田 + 丁 |
Rice Field (田) + Nail (丁)
The rice field is full of nails. That sucks.
Why is the rice field full of nails? It’s part of a TOWN that’s known for making nails, and they dump their nails in the rice field (because rice is worth nothing to this TOWN).
Try to feel some anger towards the town as a whole. Rice is awesome. They can’t be throwing nails in there. Jerks.
Reading: ちょう
Do you remember the kanji 丁? The on’yomi is also ちょう, and the kanji means “street.” The mnemonic for that one had to do with Mrs. Cho who was scattering nails all over the street.
Oh, and guess who lives in this 町, too? Yeah, it’s Mrs. CHO.
Do you remember Mrs. Cho? She’s notorious, by now.
Vocabulary
This is a step up from 村. A bit bigger, though still not huge like a city (i.e. it’s a town).
a 町（まち）＝ Town
- Meaning: Same as the kanji. 町 is going to be a bit larger than a 村
- Reading: The kun’yomi reading. What do you want to do to this town? You want to take a match (まち) to it, because you’re crazy (and you hate Mrs. Cho).
Town’s Name + 町（ちょう/まち）＝ (The Town’s Name)
- Meaning: Same as the kanji, but now you’re adding a name to it.
- Reading: Because it’s combining with another word, it uses the on’yomi… though, it also uses the kun’yomi. Uh oh. This is one of those things you have to just learn over time.
a 下町（したまち）＝ Downtown
- Combo: 下 (below) + 町 (town)
- Meaning: The below down is the down town
- Reading: Kun’yomi readings all around. 下 tends to like the kun’yomi readings, if you remember.