Abstract

A list and guide to Japanese kanji (Chinese characters) and the English prefixes/suffixes that they correspond to in functionality. This research provides a look into how kanji correspond to and function like English affixes. Understanding these overlapping concepts provides students a framework of ideas on word structure in Japanese, as well as provides them tools to make educated guesses as to what a word may be in Japanese based on the affixes they use in their native language of English.

Using electronic dictionaries and other resources, the translations of English words containing affixes that started/ended with recurring Kanji were gathered. Those Kanji had their meanings contrasted with similar Kanji and compared with the meaning of the corresponding  affix.