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【No. 1246】Dokuha (読破 - Reading Through)

May 17, 2018 22:02
When expressing that you finish reading a difficult book or a very long novel, you can use the Japanese word dokuha (読破).

Doku (読) means "reading" and ha (破) usually means "breaking/spoiling something."

On a Japanese question forum webpage, I found that people argue that we should not use "dokuha" when expressing fining reading a book.

To tell the truth, they knew only the common meaning of the kanji 破.

However, 破 has other lesser-known meanings, like "trying everything" or "carrying through."

Of course, dokuha doesn't imply to break a book -- it just means to read through a book.
読破

難解な書物や長い書物を最後まで読み終えることを、日本語で「読破」と言います。

「読」は "reading" を意味しますが、「破」という漢字は通常「破る」や「だめにする」、すなわち "breaking/spoiling something" を意味します。

本日、日本語の質問フォーラムサイトで「読破」という言葉を使うべきじゃないという人たちがいました。

彼らは「破」という漢字の一般的な意味しか知らなかったのです。

しかし「破」には、「尽くす」や「やりとげる」という意味もあります。

もちろん「読破」は「読んで破る」ではなく、「読み遂げる」ということを表しています。

Corrections (1)

No. 1 Bernard
  • When expressing that you finish reading a difficult book or a very long novel, you can use the Japanese word dokuha (読破).
  • When expressing that you finish reading a difficult book or a very long novel, you can use the Japanese word dokuha (読破).
  • On a Japanese question forum webpage, I found that people argue that we should not use "dokuha" when expressing fining reading a book.
  • On a Japanese question forum webpage, I found that people arguing that we should not use "dokuha" when talking about finishing a book.
  • To tell the truth, they knew only the common meaning of the kanji 破.
  • Thing is, they only knew the common meaning of the kanji 破.

    "To tell the truth" when talking about other people sounds odd.

  • Of course, dokuha doesn't imply to break a book -- it just means to read through a book.
  • Of course, dokuha doesn't imply breaking a book -- it just means to complete a book.
Toru
Thank you so much for the correction!

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