- NDL
Kanji Closeup 得
NikoYesterday I was thinking about how I use words with the kanji 得 quite a bit:
得 means something like "profit; advantage; benefit; gain."
You'll most commonly see 得 in words using the onyomi reading, which is とく.
The only words I can think of that do not use とく as the reading are:
得る
える
to get; to acquire; to obtain; to procure
あり得る
ありうる・ありえる
to be possible; to be likely
なり得る
なりうる・なりえる
to be possible to become
あり得ない
ありえない
impossible
Uh... why do we have both うる and える readings?
I don't know. But I can give you some good news: I never use うる. I only say える.
I do this for two reasons:
#1) うる has a somewhat stiffer nuance than える.
#2) Words like あり得ない or 得る all by itself only use え.
So just always use える for the reading of 得る.
Here are a couple of example sentences:
ギャンブルで利益を得るのは難しい。
ギャンブル で りえき を える のは むずかしい。
It's difficult to make a profit by gambling.
えーっ！あり得ない！！
えーっ！ありえない！！
Whaaaaat?! No way!
It's common to write あり得ない with only hiragana as ありえない.
誰でも病気になり得る。
だれ でも びょうき に なりえる。
It's possible for anyone to become sick.
Anyways, I find myself often using the other reading of 得, which is とく.
The most common word using this kanji is probably:
得意
とくい
one's strong point [speciality]; skilled (at)
For example, we could say:
エクセル得意？
エクセル とくい？
Are you good at (using) Excel?
I love simple sentences like this.
You could also say:
得意料理はオムレツです。
とくい りょうり は オムレツ です。
Omelettes are my specialty.
But my favorite word using 得 is probably:
お得
おとく
a profit; an advantage; a good deal
This word will also show up commonly as a する verb:
得する
とくする
to make a profit; to benefit from; to get a good deal
I used to misuse this word a lot, but I'm getting better... slowly...
ハッピーアワーってお得だよね。
ハッピーアワー って おとく だ よ ね。
Happy hour is a good deal, isn't it?
Or imagine that you went to a coffee shop and ordered a coffee. But instead they gave you a latte!
You informed them of the error, and as a result you got both a coffee and a latte even though you only paid for one drink.
You could then say:
なんか得した気分！
なんか とくした きぶん！
I feel like I got a special deal! // I feel like I benefited from that!
Or if you buy a PC and you think you got a good deal, you could say:
このパソコン、買って得した！
この パソコン、 かって とくした！
I got a good deal on this PC.
Last but not least, we have a proverb that uses 得.
And it's a proverb with an English equivalent, too!
早起きは三文の得。
はやおき は さんもん の とく。
The early bird gets the worm.
You may know the word 文 (ぶん // sentence), but here we have 文 (もん), which is an old and obsolete form of currency in Japan.
Hope you enjoyed this one. ^^
Niko
