Samurai

[Kenjhee]

The dictionary lists two different kanji for Samurai (actually one seems to be a radical contained in the other). The characters are 侍 and 士. What is the difference?

[thegooseking]

Kevinkaさん、

This is a good question. I think it depends on relative rank or social status. Samurai were considered to be nobility, but obviously even they were servants to their 大名. Looking at the compounds they appear in, 侍 seems to appear in compounds that involve serving somebody important (like a daimyou), while 士 seems to appear in compounds talking about a position of elevated respect.

士 is, for example, used in compounds like 紳士 (shinshi - gentleman), and 博士 (hakase, the title given to people who have a PhD). 侍, meanwhile, appears in compounds like 侍従 (jijuu - chamberlain (who serves the Emperor)) or even 侍する (ji suru), which is a verb meaning "to serve, to wait on".

So I think 侍 refers to samurai as servants of a daimyou, while 士 refers to samurai as a noble class above the commoners.

小狼

[Kenjhee]

Thank you! That's an interesting theory. I'm used to seeing the more complicated kanji for the word Samurai, and was surprised to see a simpler way to write it.

[community.japanese]

Kevinka san, 小狼さん、
こんにちは。
Thank you for your posts.
I think that is an interesting point.
Yuki 由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com