False friendCertain
letter (ja) / toilet paper (zh)
Same characters, a different meaning. Learn these first.
Japanese
手紙
てがみtegami
In Japanese it meansletter (correspondence)
Chinese
手纸
shǒuzhǐ手紙
In Chinese it meanstoilet paper
To say “letter (correspondence)” in Chinese信
To say “toilet paper” in Japaneseトイレットペーパー
Note
The classic trap. Japanese 手紙 is a letter you write; Chinese 手纸 is toilet paper. A letter in Chinese is 信 (xìn).
Sources
- CC-CEDICT, community-maintained Chinese–English dictionary (MDBG). · CC BY-SA 4.0
- JMdict Japanese–Multilingual Dictionary, Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group (EDRDG). · CC BY-SA 4.0 (EDRDG licence)