[kahn-jee] 
| 1. | a system of Japanese writing using Chinese-derived characters. |
| 2. | a character in this system. |
| kan·ji (kän'jē) n. pl. kanji or kan·jis
[Japanese : kan, Chinese (from Middle Chinese xanh) + ji, characters (from Middle Chinese dzih).] |
kanji human language, character
/kahn'jee/ (From the Japanese "kan" - the Chinese Han dynasty, and "ji" - glyph or letter of the alphabet. Not capitalised. Plural "kanji") The Japanese word for a Han character used in Japanese. Kanji constitute a part of the writing system used to represent the Japanese language in written, printed and displayed form. The term is also used for the collection of all kanji letters.
US-ASCII doesn't include kanji characters, but some character encodings, including Unicode, do.
The Japanese writing system also uses hiragana, katakana, and sometimes romaji (Roman alphabet letters). These characters are distinct from, though commonly used in combination with, kanji. Furigana are also added sometimes.
(2000-12-30)
kanji
in Japanese writing, characters adapted from Chinese characters and usually employed for writing nouns, verb roots, adjectives, and other important words. The Japanese affixes for verb tenses, prepositions, and other grammatical markers, which do not exist in Chinese, are indicated by hiragana symbols written beside the kanji. The pronunciation of kanji symbols may be indicated as well by hiragana signs. See also kana.
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