Heibon (平凡 - Ordinary)

Heibon

To describe that someone/something is ordinary and insipid, you can use the Japanese word 'heibon' (平凡).

Both 'hei' (平) and 'bon' (凡) mean that something is ordinary.

That is to say, 'heibon' is a word made by combining two characters that have the same meaning.

If you want to emphasize that something is not special, you can say 'heihei bonbon' (平平凡凡/平々凡々) by repeating themselves.

Incidentally, the antonym of 'heibon' is 'hibon' (非凡 - "extraordinary"); here the 'hi' (非) is a negative word.

平凡

特に優れた点もなく並なことを「平凡」と言います。

「平」も「凡」も、何かが並であることや、あたりまえであることを意味します。

すなわち「平凡」は、似た意味の漢字を合成して作られた語というわけです。

平凡であることを強調したい場合は、「平平凡凡」「平々凡々」のように言います。

ちなみに、「平凡」の対義語は「非凡」で、何かが特に優れていることを意味します。

• Heibon (平凡 - Ordinary)
• This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

• Heibon
• This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

• To describe that someone/something is ordinary and insipid, you can use the Japanese word 'heibon' (平凡).
• To describe that someone/something is ordinary and dull, you can use the Japanese word 'heibon' (平凡).

  I changed (insipid) to (dull) for this sentence. The reason for this change is that (insipid) isn't used as often as a word like (dull). You can use either of the two words since they both have the same meaning.

• Both 'hei' (平) and 'bon' (凡) mean that something is ordinary.
• This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

• That is to say, 'heibon' is a word made by combining two characters that have the same meaning.
• This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

• If you want to emphasize that something is not special, you can say 'heihei bonbon' (平平凡凡/平々凡々) by repeating themselves.
• This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

• Incidentally, the antonym of 'heibon' is 'hibon' (非凡 - "extraordinary"); here the 'hi' (非) is a negative word.
• This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

excellent journal entry. Your topic was very interesting. Keep up the good work practicing English.

• Heibon
• This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

• To describe that someone/something is ordinary and insipid, you can use the Japanese word 'heibon' (平凡).
• This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

• Both 'hei' (平) and 'bon' (凡) mean that something is ordinary.
• This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

• That is to say, 'heibon' is a word made by combining two characters that have the same meaning.
• This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

• If you want to emphasize that something is not special, you can say 'heihei bonbon' (平平凡凡/平々凡々) by repeating themselves.
• This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

• Incidentally, the antonym of 'heibon' is 'hibon' (非凡 - "extraordinary"); here the 'hi' (非) is a negative word.
• Incidentally, the antonym of 'heibon' is 'hibon' (非凡 - "extraordinary"); here the 'hi' (非) is a negative word (so the characters are "not" and "ordinary").

  Although it's probably okay to leave it off, I think this additional explanation helps the reader understand that "negative" means "anti" here, rather than "bad".
  
  "Antonym" hints at that, but since "bad" is one of the main meanings/senses of "negative", it doesn't hurt to clarify further.

Interesting; 平凡 is a word I only recently learned, but I didn't know it had that sort of negative nuance. I don't know that I ever would have used it over something like 普段, but that is still good to know ^^; .