々
Chinese
Etymology
Simplified from 仝 (tóng), variant of 同 (tóng, “same (used as iteration mark)”), written in cursive.[1]
Punctuation mark
々
Usage notes
In Japanese, the symbol 々 is used in any kind of writing. In Chinese, it is sometimes used in casual horizontal writing (or calligraphy) to indicate a repeated character, but not in formal writing, in print. More often, 〻 is used (but still only casually), or sometimes the older 二. Usually, however, the character is simply written twice, without the use of any of the above symbols.
Japanese
Alternative forms
- 〻 (in vertical writing, now rare)
Etymology
Simplified from 仝, variant of 同 (“same (used as iteration mark)”), written in cursive.[2]
Punctuation mark
- Ideographic iteration mark, indicating that the previous kanji should be repeated. The repeated character might not have the same pronunciation as the first due to rendaku.
- 黙々 (mokumoku, “silent, mute, tacit”)
- 早々 (hayabaya, “promptly”)
- 佐々木 (sasaki, “Sasaki (a Japanese surname)”)
- 昔々 (mukashimukashi, “once upon a time”)
- 時々 (tokidoki, “occasionally, sometimes”)
- 久々 (hisabisa, “long-absent”)
- 色々 (iroiro, “various”)
- 日々 (hibi, “daily”)
- 島々 (shimajima, “islands”)
- 所々 (tokorodokoro, “here and there”)
Usage notes
In Japanese, this mark is formally called 漢字返し (kanji-gaeshi, “kanji repeater”) or 同の字点 (dō no jiten, “same-character mark”). More casually, it is called noma since it looks like a combination of the katakana ノマ (noma), 繰り返し (kurikaeshi, “repeating”), 同じ (onaji, “same”), or 同じく (onajiku, “same”).
See also
References
- ^ “漢字文化資料館 漢字 Q&A コーナー Q0009 「々」はなんと読むのですか？”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)[1], 2010 September 27 (last accessed), archived from the original on 21 June 2012
- ^ “漢字文化資料館 漢字 Q&A コーナー Q0009 「々」はなんと読むのですか？”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)[2], 2010 September 27 (last accessed), archived from the original on 21 June 2012