Chris Kern ([info]hikarugenji) wrote,
@ 2006-04-19 21:47:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend  Next Entry
Proving once again that the Japanese writing system is supremely screwed up, there are apparently certain characters called 幽霊文字 ("ghost characters") that have no readings, meanings, or examples of use. Even if you look them up in a dictionary you get definitions like 意義未詳 (reading and meaning unknown). Examples of these ghost characters are 暃 and 碵.

They all come from the JIS set, which is a set of characters that are standard for computer terminals to display. Apparently during the compliation of the JIS set, some characters that weren't actually characters got onto the list accidentally -- either because they were miswritten versions of actual characters or the compilers misread certain kanji.

So why do they appear in dictionaries? It appears to be solely as a marketing tactic; they want to be able to put "contains all JIS kanji" in their advertisements to be competitive, but that means they even have to include these fake characters.

EDIT:
This appears to be the full set of ghost characters:
穃粫挧橸膤袮閠妛暃椦軅鵈恷碵駲墸壥彁蟐
Some dictionaries give readings for them, or meanings, but they are just guessing (or using readings/meanings of characters that look a lot like them -- for instance, KANJIDIC gives 軅 the reading of "yagate" but that's just taken from 軈.)



(4 comments) - (Post a new comment)


[info]skuldnoshinpu
2006-04-19 07:18 pm UTC (link)
I should change my Japanese name just to include those characters.

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]hikarugenji
2006-04-19 07:46 pm UTC (link)

That would make a good conversation piece.
本当に面白い名前ですね。なんって読むの?
意義未詳。
えっ?

BTW apparently this is the full list (there used to be more but examples of usage were found for the others). Google brings up some hits but the pages are all either mojibake, obvious mistakes (these are all very similar to "real" characters), or pages about yuureimoji or lists of JIS characters.
穃粫挧橸膤袮閠妛暃椦軅鵈恷碵駲墸壥彁蟐

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]alessar
2006-04-20 06:12 am UTC (link)
That's awesome. If I ever need to fake up some Japanese text, I'll have to try to use those characters. Now I have to ponder their use in an icon.

(Reply to this)

Fascinating!
[info]bethemedia
2006-06-05 01:44 pm UTC (link)
Are there examples of this in any other language?
Cross-word anyone?

(Reply to this)


(4 comments) - (Post a new comment)

Create an Account
Forgot your login or password?
Login w/ OpenID
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…