更

furthermore; to renew; change; grow late; brand-new; night watch

Kanji 1248

See how the four Joyo yomi of 更 will take you in very different directions. With ふ•ける and ふ•かす, you can stay up late. With さら, you can talk about what’s new. By adding hiragana to さら, you produce adverbs, such as one for “furthermore.” Finally, コウ means “change” in terms for “renewal,” “revision,” and “rehabilitation.” As a bonus, learn what it means to change clothes in Japan!

Revision history:

June 15, 2021: 

• p. 1: The introduction is based on the etymology from Henshall’s earlier edition. In his current edition he has utterly changed that etymology! I revised the intro. a bit to reflect that unfortunate state of affairs!
• p. 2: Updated the Henshall etymology, the Sears image, and the Sears link.
• p. 7, sidebar: Changed the definitions and breakdown of 更迭. Also slightly changed the translation of the sample sentence in that sidebar.
• p. 15: In the translation of the second sample sentence, I changed “stimulated” to “encouraged.”
• p. 17: Added a link to the Kanshudo games.

Feb. 14, 2014: Originally published.