Hey, I'm new at learning Japanese. I am expanding on my vocabulary by watching TV shows, so please be nice. I heard "かわせみ" (kawasemi) and was wondering what it was. It means kingfisher, a very pretty bird! I searched my Kanji Study app dictionary and found two ways to write this word, it made me so excited to learn the etymology, so I decided to share. I would love some input as to why and how this works. How would a Japanese person write this word?
川蝉: 川 river (かわ), 蝉 cicada (せみ)
Pretty straightfoward, seems to be a combination of two words to create the concept "kingfisher" (= river + cicada).
翡翠: 翡 kingfisher/jade + 翠 green (み)
This one puzzles me a bit more. From what I understand, those two kanji together can both mean the kingfisher bird but also signify a deep jade color that is typical for the feathers of this bird. I am pretty sure 翡 cannot be read separately as かわせ and only goes together with 翠 (みどり, み for short).
So is this kanji only part of the "kingfisher" word? It's a bit confusing for a novice.
by Ok-Plum4214