Dokuha (読破 - Reading Through)

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。

• 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.