間
あいだ
hepburn aida
between, during
Part of speech · noun
Pattern visualization
no decomposition available
Examples
- 机と椅子の間。Between the desk and the chair.
- 夏休みの間に旅行する。I travel during summer break.
Collocations
間 (aida, between / during)間 (ma, interval / pause)〜間に (~aida ni, during)人間 (ningen, human)時間 (jikan, time)
Mnemonic
Aida (間) is "between / during / interval" — kanji 間 reads aida (standalone), ma (aesthetic pause), kan in compounds (jikan, kuukan, shunkan), ken in select compounds (ningen, human). Senses: (1) spatial (tsukue to isu no aida); (2) temporal (natsuyasumi no aida); (3) human relations (ningen kankei). Ma aesthetic — blank, pause, void — saturates music (gagaku, noh), architecture (tokonoma alcove), conversation (manzai, rakugo timing covered in ochiru), painting / calligraphy (yohaku negative space). Zen plus mu (nothing) plus mujou (impermanence). Scorseses 2016 Silence used ma. Korean sai, Chinese jian diverge. JLPT N5 aida pairs with ma aesthetic.
Quick check
Areas of ma aesthetic?