ateji

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 当(あ)て字(じ) (ateji) or 宛字(あてじ) (ateji).

Noun

ateji (countable and uncountable, plural ateji)

1. (linguistics) The use of kanji chosen primarily for their phonetic (narrow sense) or semantic (broad sense) value to represent foreign or native Japanese words, or the kanji so used.

Translations

kanji used phonetically

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 借字 (zh) (jièzì)

• Japanese: 当て字 (ja) (あてじ, ateji), 宛字 (ja) (あてじ, ateji)
• Korean: 아테지 (ateji), 취음 (chwieum)
• Russian: атэ́дзи m (atɛ́dzi)

Japanese

Romanization

ateji

1. Rōmaji transcription of あてじ