人格・社会

彼かれは優すぐれた人格じんかくの持もち主ぬしで、誰だれからも慕したわれている。

He is a man of outstanding character, admired by everyone.

Usage The whole moral make-up of a person, and a word that judges it: 人格者 is someone of real integrity, 人格を疑う is to doubt someone's character. Not 性格, which is temperament — cheerful, impatient — and carries no verdict.

Remember it 人 (person) + 格 (standard, rank) → the standard a person is held to.

あの俳優はいゆうは演技力えんぎりょくだけでなく、品格ひんかくも兼かね備そなえている。

That actor has not only acting ability but dignity to go with it.

Usage Refinement that shows — in bearing, speech, the look of a thing. 品格がある of a person or a product; 品格を欠く when it is missing. Close to 人格 but about how someone carries themselves rather than their morals.

Remember it 品 (quality, grade) + 格 (standard) → quality visible enough to be graded.

すべての人ひとは生うまれながらに尊厳そんげんを持もち、尊重そんちょうされる権利けんりがある。

Every person is born with dignity and has the right to be treated with respect.

Usage The philosophical and legal sense: the worth no one may take away. 人間の尊厳, 尊厳を守る, and 尊厳死 for death with dignity. Far weightier than 品格 and at home in human-rights texts.

Remember it 尊 (revere) + 厳 (solemn, strict) → what must be treated as solemn and beyond touching.

失敗しっぱいを繰くり返かえすと、自尊心じそんしんが傷きずついてしまう。

Repeated failure ends up wounding your self-respect.

Usage Usually met in 自尊心が傷つく (to be hurt) and 自尊心が高い/低い. Distinguish 自信, which is confidence in a particular ability; 自尊心 is your sense of your own worth as a whole.

Remember it 自 (self) + 尊 (revere) + 心 (heart) → the heart's regard for itself.

彼かれの傲慢ごうまんな態度たいどが部下ぶかの反感はんかんを買かった。

His arrogant manner turned his subordinates against him.

Usage Strongly negative and openly critical: 傲慢な態度, 傲慢な物言い. A na-adjective as well as a noun (傲慢さ). Heavier than saying someone is プライドが高い, which can be neutral or even admiring.

Remember it 傲 (haughty) + 慢 (to slight, be lax) → holding yourself high and everyone else cheap.

どんなに成功せいこうしても謙虚けんきょな姿勢しせいを失うしなわないことが大切たいせつだ。

However much you achieve, it matters not to lose a humble attitude.

Usage A prized quality in Japan: 謙虚な人, 謙虚な姿勢, 謙虚に学ぶ. Not 遠慮, which is holding back politely in a particular moment — 謙虚 is a standing disposition.

Remember it 謙 (modest) + 虚 (empty) → keeping yourself empty enough to take something in.

虚栄心きょえいしんから高価こうかなブランド品ひんを買かい続つづけ、借金しゃっきんが膨ふくらんだ。

Vanity kept him buying luxury brands until his debts ballooned.

Usage The wish to be admired for something you do not actually have. 虚栄心を満たす, 虚栄心が強い. 見栄 is the everyday word for the same showing-off; 虚栄心 is the analytical one.

Remember it 虚 (hollow) + 栄 (glory) + 心 (heart) → a heart set on glory with nothing inside it.

偏見へんけんを持もたずに相手あいてを理解りかいしようとする姿勢しせいが重要じゅうようだ。

What matters is trying to understand the other person without prejudice.

Usage A view tilted off true and unsupported by evidence: 偏見を持つ, 偏見をなくす, 人種的偏見. 先入観 is the neutral cousin — a preconception formed before experience, not necessarily unfair.

Remember it 偏 (leaning to one side) + 見 (view) → a view that leans.

審判しんぱんは常つねに公正こうせいな立場たちばから判断はんだんを下くださなければならない。

A referee must always judge from a position of fairness.

Usage Fairness as correct procedure: 公正な取引, 公正な審査, 公正取引委員会. 公平 is about treating people evenly; 公正 is about the process being right.

Remember it 公 (public, impartial) + 正 (correct) → correct in a way that belongs to everyone, not to one side.

医療いりょう倫理りんりの観点かんてんから、この実験じっけんは許可きょかされなかった。

On grounds of medical ethics, the experiment was not permitted.

Usage Ethics as a system you can reason about: 倫理的, 倫理観, 職業倫理, 倫理委員会. 道徳 covers the everyday morals people are raised with; 倫理 is the discipline that examines them.

Remember it 倫 (human relations) + 理 (principle) → the principles governing how people stand to one another.

学校がっこうでは道徳どうとくの授業じゅぎょうを通とおじて、人ひととして大切たいせつな価値観かちかんを学まなぶ。

At school, moral-education classes teach the values that matter in being human.

Usage Morality as lived and taught: 道徳心, 道徳的, and 道徳 as a school subject in Japan. Set against 倫理, which is the systematic study; 道徳 is what you are expected to practise.

Remember it 道 (way, path) + 徳 (virtue) → the path of virtue.

予算よさんの制約せいやくから、計画けいかくを大幅おおはばに縮小しゅくしょうせざるをえなかった。

Budget constraints forced us to scale the plan back sharply.

Usage A limit imposed by circumstance rather than by rule: 制約を受ける, 時間的制約, 制約の中で. 制限 is a limit someone sets deliberately — a speed limit, an entry limit.

Remember it 制 (control) + 約 (bind, pledge) → held inside something that controls and binds.

独裁どくさい政権せいけんは国民こくみんの言論げんろんを抑圧よくあつし、批判ひはんを許ゆるさなかった。

The dictatorship suppressed free speech and allowed no criticism.

Usage Strongly negative, and used at two scales: politically, 言論を抑圧する; psychologically, 感情の抑圧 for feelings pushed down out of sight. Much heavier than 規制, which is ordinary regulation.

Remember it 抑 (hold down) + 圧 (press) → held down and pressed flat.

市民しみんたちは不公平ふこうへいな政策せいさくに抵抗ていこうして、声こえを上あげ続つづけた。

Citizens resisted the unfair policy and kept raising their voices.

Usage Resistance in every sense: 抵抗する politically, 抵抗感 for inner reluctance, 空気抵抗 and 電気抵抗 in physics. 反抗 is narrower — defiance of authority, often a child's.

Remember it 抵 (ward off) + 抗 (oppose) → warding off and pushing back.

長ながい交渉こうしょうの末すえ、両者りょうしゃはようやく妥協だきょう点てんを見みつけた。

After long negotiations the two sides finally found a compromise.

Usage 妥協する, 妥協点を見つける, 妥協案. It can be a virtue or a fault depending on the frame: 妥協しない人 is often praise for someone who will not cut corners.

Remember it 妥 (settled, appropriate) + 協 (work together) → working together toward something both sides can settle for.

伝統でんとうと現代げんだいが見事みごとに調和ちょうわした建物たてものが街まちに溶とけ込こんでいる。

A building where tradition and the modern blend beautifully sits easily in the street.

Usage Harmony among things placed side by side — colours, sounds, a building and its setting: 調和が取れている, 色の調和, 自然と調和する. About the result looking right, where 協調 is about people cooperating.

Remember it 調 (tune, adjust) + 和 (harmony) → tuned until the parts agree.

各国かっこくが協調きょうちょうして環境かんきょう問題もんだいに取とり組くまなければならない。

Countries must cooperate in tackling environmental problems.

Usage Cooperation as keeping in step: 国際協調, 協調性 — a word that turns up constantly in job references. 協力 is concrete help given; 協調 is acting in concert.

Remember it 協 (join forces) + 調 (tune) → joined forces kept in tune, like players in an orchestra.

被災者ひさいしゃへの連帯れんたいを示しめすため、世界中せかいじゅうから支援しえんの手てが差さし伸のべられた。

To show solidarity with the victims, help was extended from around the world.

Usage A bond that makes one party's fate the other's: 連帯感, 連帯責任 for joint liability, 連帯保証人 for a co-guarantor. Stronger and more binding than 協力.

Remember it 連 (link) + 帯 (band, belt) → linked by a band tied around you both.

異ことなる宗教しゅうきょうや文化ぶんかが平和的へいわてきに共存きょうぞんできる社会しゃかいを目指めざしている。

We are aiming at a society where different religions and cultures can coexist peacefully.

Usage 共存する, 平和共存, 共存共栄. Each side stays itself — set it against 融合, where the things being combined stop being separate.

Remember it 共 (together) + 存 (exist) → existing alongside, neither one displacing the other.

伝統音楽でんとうおんがくと現代音楽げんだいおんがくを融合ゆうごうさせた新あたらしいジャンルが人気にんきを集あつめている。

A new genre fusing traditional and modern music is winning an audience.

Usage 融合する, 東西文化の融合, 核融合 for nuclear fusion. What comes out is one new thing, which is the difference from 共存, where both parties remain intact.

Remember it 融 (melt) + 合 (combine) → melted together into something new.

複数ふくすうの部署ぶしょを統合とうごうして効率こうりつを上あげることが目的もくてきだ。

The aim is to integrate several departments and raise efficiency.

Usage Bringing parts under one organised whole: 統合する, 欧州統合, システム統合, and 統合失調症 for schizophrenia. 融合 melts things together; 統合 arranges them under a single structure.

Remember it 統 (unify, govern) + 合 (combine) → combined under one authority.

党内とうない対立たいりつが激化げきかし、政党せいとうは二ふたつに分裂ぶんれつした。

Infighting intensified and the party split in two.

Usage A split along a crack, not a tidy division: 分裂する, 党が分裂する, 細胞分裂 in biology. 分割 is deliberate partition — dividing land, splitting a payment.

Remember it 分 (divide) + 裂 (tear, rip) → divided by tearing.

環境かんきょうの持続じぞく可能かのうな発展はってんのためには、永続えいぞく的てきな取とり組くみが必要ひつようだ。

Sustainable development of the environment calls for a lasting effort.

Usage 永続的 is the form you will meet most: 永続的な取り組み, 永続的な平和. 永遠 is eternity as a feeling or an absolute; 永続 is the practical business of carrying on without a break.

Remember it 永 (eternal) + 続 (continue) → continuing without an end in sight.

この痛いたみは一時的いちじてきなものなので、すぐに落おち着つくでしょう。

This pain is only temporary, so it should settle down soon.

Usage 一時的に as an adverb, 一時的な措置 for a stopgap. The standard opposites are 恒久的 and 永続的. Do not confuse it with 一時 (いちじ) meaning one o'clock.

Remember it 一 (one) + 時 (time) + 的 (‑ish, the adjective ending) → lasting only the one stretch of time.

恒久的こうきゅうてきな平和へいわを築きずくためには、相互そうご理解りかいと対話たいわが不可欠ふかけつだ。

Building a permanent peace requires mutual understanding and dialogue.

Usage Formal, and common in political and legal writing: 恒久的な解決, 恒久平和. Weightier and more official than 永続的, and the direct opposite of 一時的.

Remember it 恒 (constant) + 久 (long-lasting) + 的 → constant and long-lasting as a quality.

爆発ばくはつの刹那せつな、彼かれは反射的はんしゃてきに身みを伏ふせた。

In the instant of the explosion, he threw himself flat by reflex.

Usage A Buddhist term for the shortest conceivable moment, and literary in tone: 刹那の出来事, 刹那的な快楽 for living only for the moment, 刹那主義. Everyday speech uses 瞬間.

Remember it 刹那 transliterates the Sanskrit kṣaṇa — the characters carry the sound, not a meaning, and in Buddhist thought everything changes from one 刹那 to the next.

人間にんげんの寿命じゅみょうは有限ゆうげんだからこそ、今いまこの瞬間しゅんかんを大切たいせつにしたい。

Precisely because a human life is finite, I want to treasure this moment.

Usage Used in philosophy, mathematics and business alike: 有限会社 is a limited company, 有限責任 limited liability. The opposite, 無限, is formed the same way.

Remember it 有 (to have) + 限 (limit) → having a limit.