短い

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. 短い時間でできます。▶ —
   I can do it in a short time.
2. 短い文を書いてください。▶ —
   Please write a short sentence.

Collocations

Mnemonic

短い mijikai — an i-adjective, "short," the far side of 長い. The kanji 短 is 矢 (arrow) and 豆 (bean) — the picture of an old gauge for short things. Shifted into the onyomi たん, 短編, 最短, 短期 all hold that shortness. The era when an arrow's length was the unit of "short" still lives in the character. Kanji-reading kin: 短 reads Korean 'dan' (短期), Mandarin duǎn.

Quick check

1. "Short story" in Japanese?

   • 短編小説 tanpen shousetsu (formal)
   • 短い小説 (descriptive, less formal)
   • 小さい小説 (= "small novel", wrong)
   • 短小説 (ungrammatical)