Why do Japanese words have so many meanings? For example, きつい?
For example, きつい。
How do you know what it means? I guess the correct answer is you know what it means in context, but that can't always be the case. Intense, severe, hard, tight, strong, determined, they are all very different words. Who do so many single words in Japanese have such a wide range of meanings? I once heard Japanese like vagueness, so is that why? So you can never understand the true meaning of what anyone is saying?
Update:Tight as in too small, and difficult as in hard to do are two very different words. That's like having the English word "ugly" mean "ugly" and "bored".
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I will answer your question for a question.
Why do English words have so many meanings?
For example, "hard"?
How do you know what it means?
"hard" means 硬い,堅い,固い,頑丈な,熱心な,勤勉な,猛烈な,激しい,厳しい,確実な,つらい, etc. They are all very different words.
Words With Many Meanings
That word only means one thing it japanese however in english it means multiple things. it's simply the price for converting
define it as you want. Many words in English have multiple meanings or synonyms. If you cannot use the context you will just have to pick one to define it.
means DIFFICULT..