Abbreviations and contractions in Japanese

People shorten long Japanese names in conversation. The University of Tokyo is Tōkyō Daigaku (東京大学) in full and Tōdai (東大) when someone is actually saying it. A convenience store becomes konbini. A broadcaster such as NHK stays in Roman letters.

Kana stand for morae, the beats of a word, so a short form keeps those beats rather than a string of single letters. The beats that remain are usually enough to recognize the longer word. In a kanji compound the common cut is the first character of each part. Tōkyō plus daigaku leaves 東 and 大, read together as Tōdai. Kyōto Daigaku (京都大学) follows that cut and becomes Kyōdai (京大).

Some cuts also change the reading. Nagoya Station is Nagoya-eki (名古屋駅). In the city, people say Meieki (名駅): the character 名 is read mei, its on reading, in place of the na of Nagoya.

One pronunciation can belong to two names. Staff at the National Institute for Environmental Studies, Kokuritsu Kankyō Kenkyūjo (国立環境研究所), may call the institute Kanken (環研). The public word 漢検 is the short form of the Kanji Kentei (漢字検定). Match the kanji before you decide which kanken you heard.

Contents 3

Kanji contractions

携帯 (keitai) clips 携帯電話 (keitai denwa), the mobile phone. 電話 (denwa) is the full word for a telephone. The rows below are cuts you can meet on a campus, a timetable, or a newspaper masthead.

Clipping	Kanji	Longer form	Kanji	English
akiba	秋葉	Akihabara	秋葉原	the Akihabara district
bukatsu	部活	bukatsudō	部活動	after-school club
keitai	携帯	keitai denwa	携帯電話	mobile phone
kōkō	高校	kōtō gakkō	高等学校	high school
kokuren	国連	Kokusai Rengō	国際連合	the United Nations
kyōdai	京大	Kyōto Daigaku	京都大学	Kyoto University
meieki	名駅	Nagoya-eki	名古屋駅	Nagoya Station
nikkei	日経	Nihon Keizai Shinbun	日本経済新聞	the Nikkei newspaper
nōdai	農大	Tōkyō Nōgyō Daigaku	東京農業大学	Tokyo University of Agriculture
nyūkan	入管	Nyūkoku Kanrikyoku	入国管理局	immigration bureau
odakyū	小田急	Odawara Kyūkō Dentetsu	小田原急行電鉄	Odakyu Electric Railway
ondai	音大	ongaku daigaku	音楽大学	music university
Tochō	都庁	Tōkyō-to Chōsha	東京都庁舎	Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building
Tōdai	東大	Tōkyō Daigaku	東京大学	University of Tokyo
kanken	漢検	Kanji Kentei	漢字検定	the kanji proficiency test

Keitai is the older clip for a mobile phone. Once smartphones spread, sumātofon (スマートフォン) was cut to sumaho (スマホ). That one sits with the katakana rows below.

Loanwords cut down in katakana

Borrowed words are written in katakana, and the full spelling is often too long for a sentence. The usual clip takes the first two morae of each half. Famirī resutoran becomes famiresu. Konbiniensu sutoa becomes konbini.

Companies shorten their own titles in this pattern too. The anime Pretty Cure, Puriti Kyua (プリティキュア), is the name on posters as purikyua (プリキュア).

English	Short form	Katakana	Longer form	Katakana
animation	anime	アニメ	animēshon	アニメーション
air conditioning	eakon	エアコン	ea kondishonā	エアコンディショナー
personal computer	pasokon	パソコン	pāsonaru konpyūtā	パーソナルコンピューター
remote control	rimokon	リモコン	rimōto kontorōrā	リモートコントローラー
digital camera	dejikame	デジカメ	dejitaru kamera	デジタルカメラ
email address	meado	メアド	mēru adoresu	メールアドレス
family computer (Nintendo)	famikon	ファミコン	famirī konpyūtā	ファミリーコンピューター
American football	amefuto	アメフト	amerikan futtobōru	アメリカン・フットボール
love hotel	rabuho	ラブホ	rabu hoteru	ラブホテル
convenience store	konbini	コンビニ	konbiniensu sutoa	コンビニエンス・ストア
department store	depāto	デパート	depātomento sutoa	デパートメント・ストア
professional wrestling	puroresu	プロレス	purofesshonaru resuringu	プロフェッショナル・レスリング
family restaurant	famiresu	ファミレス	famirī resutoran	ファミリーレストラン
sandwich	sando	サンド	sandoitchi	サンドイッチ
McDonald's	makku	マック	Makudonarudo	マクドナルド
Starbucks	sutaba	スタバ	Sutābakkusu	スターバックス
Pokémon	pokemon	ポケモン	poketto monsutā	ポケットモンスター
photo sticker	purikura	プリクラ	purinto kurabu	プリントクラブ
magazine plus book	mukku	ムック	magajin and bukku	マガジン and ブック
mechanical pencil lead	shāshin	シャー芯	shāpupen no shin	シャープペンの芯
smartphone	sumaho	スマホ	sumātofon	スマートフォン

Roman letters on signs and in chats

Japanese also keeps a set of labels in Roman letters. Some are the names of broadcasters, railways, and companies. Others take the first letter of each word in a Japanese phrase, so the letters have to be learned with that phrase attached.

Letters	Said as	Stands for	Where it shows up
NHK	enu eichi kē	Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai (日本放送協会)	the public broadcaster
JR	jē āru	Japan Railways	station signs
OL	ō eru	office lady	a woman working in an office
OB / OG	ō bī / ō jī	old boy / old girl	a former member of a school, club, or company
CM	shī emu	commercial message	a television advertisement
GW	jī daburyū	Golden Week	the cluster of holidays at the start of May
NG	enu jī	no good	a failed take, or something unacceptable
SNS	esu enu esu	social networking service	social media
HP	eichi pī	home page	a website
LDK	eru dī kē	living, dining, kitchen	apartment ads for a combined living, dining, and kitchen
JLPT	jē eru pī tī	Japanese-Language Proficiency Test	the proficiency exam for non-native speakers
OP	ō pī	opening	the opening sequence of an anime or drama
ED	ī dī	ending	the ending sequence
JC	jē shī	joshi chūgakusei (女子中学生)	a middle school girl
VTR	buī tī āru	video tape recording	a recorded clip played during a television program

Two transit cards hide an extra phrase in the letters. A Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism sheet on JR East cards derives Suica from Super Urban Intelligent CArd, with CA taken from Card. The sound also matches suika, watermelon, and sui sui, the ease of walking through a ticket gate. ICOCA, the JR West card, expands to IC Operating Card. Those letters also match the Kansai invitation 行こか (iko ka), shall we go.

KY, read kē wai, comes from kūki ga yomenai (空気が読めない): someone who misses the mood of the room. The phrase drew wide attention in 2007. JK is joshi kōsei (女子高生), a high school girl. In online writing the same letters can stand for jōshiki-teki ni kangaete (常識的に考えて), a nudge to use common sense. A lone w in a chat stands for 笑 (warai), a laugh, and a row of them stretches that laugh out.

When you meet a short form for the first time, split it. Two kanji point to the first character of two longer words, as Kyōdai points to Kyōto Daigaku. Four katakana point to the opening beats of a borrowed compound, as famiresu points to famirī resutoran. Roman letters need the expansion used in Japan: KY from kūki yomenai, Suica from Super Urban Intelligent CArd. If the letters are JK, ask which of the two JK meanings the writer meant.