Geometry in Native Japanese - 5 - Solid

 As the last section of Geometry in Native Japanese  we will review "solid".

3) 3D - solid or volume     Chinese　　体（立体）　　Native Japanese　かたまり（ka-ta-ma-ri; 塊 or lump）

The Native Japanese for "solid" is  かたまり（ka-ta-ma-ri). Like "solid" かたまり（ka-ta-ma-ri) comes from an adjective  かたい（ka-ta-i) or "hard".  かたまる（ka-ta-ma-ru) means " to become solidified" and かためる（ka-ta-me-ru) means " to solidify". かたまり（ka-ta-ma-ri) can be regarded as a noun form of  the verb  かたまる（ka-ta-ma-ru).

Native Japanese is very poor for "solid" like おもて（o-mo-te) and we usually use the Chinese origin sound たい (ta-i; 体, Chinese: ti). The exact word from Chinese origin for 3D is りったい（ri-ttai; 立体）. "Solid' is not an exact word for 3D, either. "Solid' is  こたい (ko-ta-i; 固体) in Japanese and 固体(gu-ti) in Chinese.

Line, surface have shapes but "shape" is usually refers to a solid.

Shape related Native Japanese

shape -  かたち （ka-ta-chi)  - which may have come from かた (ka-ta).

form -   かたち （ka-ta-chi) , かた (ka-ta)

figure -  すがた (su-ga-ta)

body  -  からだ (ka-ra-da) - usually a human body

These words are used very commonly and have figurative uses while かたまり（ka-ta-ma-ri). is not so often used and almost no figurative use.


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