On Being Knocked Out

If you ever pass out in Japan or, worse, fall into a coma, you’ll want to be able to talk about it afterward. Here are some useful terms:

半意識 (hanishiki: semiconsciousness; unconsciousness)
     half + consciousness (last 2 chars.)

意識を失う (ishiki o ushinau: to lose consciousness)
     consciousness (1st 2 chars.) + to lose

If you rearrange the kanji and eliminate the middle one, you find a far different word:

失意 (shitsui: despair, disappointment, adversity)

The characters tempt me to break them down as to lose + mind! But I suppose to lose + inclination or even to lose + meaning would be more accurate.

意識朦朧 (ishiki-mōrō: being in a hazy state, being half-conscious)
     consciousness (1st 2 chars.) + dim + gloom

This compound wins the award for the most strokes ever! Let’s enlarge those kanji for a better look:

意識朦朧

Whew, that’s better! The last two kanji break down as dim + gloom. That’s almost like doom and gloom!

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