SPOILER ALERT: If you intend to take Quiz 1 but haven’t done so yet, you might want to do that before reading this page, which defines one compound presented there.
In a short space, we’ve seen three kun-yomi that apparently overlap in meaning:
1. 離 (hana(reru): to detach, separate)
e.g., 人間離れ (ningenbanare: unwordly, superhuman)
human being + to detach2. 外 (hazu(reru): to be separated, get out of place, be off)
e.g., 仲間外れ (nakamahazure: being left out)
member of a group (1st 2 chars.) + to be separated3. 割 (wa(reru): to be divided, be separated, split into)
e.g., 仲間割れ (nakamaware: split among friends, falling out, internal discord)
member of a group (1st 2 chars.) + to lose unity
This seems like a good opportunity to sort out the differences. Let’s look at these kun-yomi one at a time.
1. 離 (hana(reru): to detach, separate)
e.g., 人間離れ (ningenbanare: unwordly, superhuman)
human being + to detach
Common Compounds:
離れ離れ (hanarebanare: separate, scattered) to separate x 2
Love the internal rhyme here!
現実離れする (genjitsubanare suru: to become disconnected from reality) existing + reality + to separate
Can be useful when describing political leaders!
Sample Sentences from Breen:
彼は私の家から遠く離れた所に住んでいます。
Kare wa watashi no ie kara tōku hanareta tokoro ni sunde imasu.
He lives far away from my house.
彼は４月に日本を離れる。
Kare wa shi-gatsu ni Nihon o hanareru.
He will leave Japan in April.
昨夜見た生なましい悪夢がまだ頭から離れない。
Sakuya mita namanamashii akumu ga mada atama kara hanarenai.
I’m still haunted by a vivid nightmare I had last night.
Conclusions:
The kun-yomi 離れる imparts a sense of physical distance, as well as departure, separation, and detachment. I thought that because 離 plays a part in 離婚 (rikon: divorce), this kanji might have an acrimonious feeling to it—one that would carry over into its kun-yomi. But instead, 離れる either has a sad sense or gives off a matter-of-fact vibe about the separation between objects or people, as well as departures from a place.
2. 外 (hazu(reru): to be separated, get out of place, be off)
e.g., 仲間外れ (nakamahazure: being left out)
member of a group (1st 2 chars.) + to be separated
Common Compounds:
当たり外れ (atarihazure: hit or miss, risk) to hit + to be off
町外れ (machihazure: outskirts of town) town + to be separated
並外れ (namihazure: out of the ordinary) ordinary + to be off
的外れ (matohazure: wide of the mark, out of focus)
target + to be offWe also saw 的 as “target” in a previous blog.
その矢は的から大きく外れた。
Sono ya wa mato kara ōkiku hazureta.
The arrow fell wide of the mark.
彼の説明は要点を外れています。
Kare no setsumei wa yōten o hazurete imasu.
His explanation is beside the point.
計算によるとロケットは軌道を外れている。
Keisan ni yoru to roketto wa kidō o hazurete iru.
The calculations show that the rocket is off-course.
Note: I have changed Breen’s sentence in various ways, so this isn’t exactly what you’ll find if you look online.
Conclusions:
There’s a sense of a missed target in 外れる. This makes sense; 外 means “outside,” so one might think of a tennis ball that lands out of bounds, rendering an effort ineffective. Other than the frustration that goes along with missing the mark, 外 does not seem a highly emotional kanji—not at all what I expected after encountering 仲間外れ (nakamahazure: being left out, member of a group (1st 2 chars.) + to be separated).
3. 割 (wa(reru): to be divided, be separated, split into)
e.g., 仲間割れ (nakamaware: split among friends, falling out, internal discord)
member of a group (1st 2 chars.) + to lose unity
Common Compounds:
割れ目 (wareme: crevice) to be divided + dividing point
Although 目 often means “eye,” it can take on very different meanings when serving as a suffix.
ひび割れ (hibiware: crack, fissure)
割れた卵 (wareta tamago: broken egg) to be divided + egg
二で割れる (ni de wareru: to be divisible by two)
two + to be divided
Sample Sentences from Breen:
ガラスはすぐ割れる。
Garasu wa sugu wareru.
Glass breaks easily.シャボン玉は途中で割れた。
Shabondama wa tochū de wareta.
The bubble burst in the air.
I simply had to include this one, as it touches on the kanji 玉 that I explored in my first blog for JapanesePod101.com, as well as 途中, which we examined in an August blog. Don’t tell me you haven’t read those; you’ll burst my bubble!
Conclusions:
The yomi 割 (wa(reru)) is very practical. Sometimes it refers to dividing things with mathematical precision. That makes sense; an original meaning of 割 was “to cut in two with a knife.” Also, with the yomi of wari, 割 means “rate, proportion, ratio.” When you refer to discounting merchandise, 割 is your kanji: 一割引 (ichiwaribiki) means “10 percent discount” (because 割 is the counter for units of 10 percent).
Final Conclusions:
離 (hana(reru): to detach, to separate)
Refers to physical distance, departure, separation, and detachment. Either has a sad sense or gives off a matter-of-fact vibe about the separation between objects or people, as well as departures from a place.
外 (hazu(reru): to be separated, get out of place, be off)
Gives the sense of a missed target. Not a highly emotional word.
割 (wa(reru): to be divided, be separated, split into)
Refers to making divisions, to splitting things in two. A practical word.
As we go down the list, the yomi seem to become less emotion-laden.
