baka or bakairu

[danthegenin]

whats idiot in japanese?

[Knight of Fate]

Correct me if i'm wrong, I think its ''Baka''.

[Vodrake]

It's 'Baka'. I've never heard 'Bakairu' before, do you mean 'Bakayaro'?

[YamazakiSusumu]

Baka is the most common. You'll also hear bakayarou, ahou, shiremono, etc.

[Mugiwara]

I'm quite sure that it's Baka.. But i think you can change it a little in different circumstances..

[i<3kakashi]

Baka is stupid. not idiot.

[Vodrake]

Baka is stupid. not idiot.

Baka doesn't directly translate as anything. It could be translated as any one of 'moron'; 'stupid'; 'idiot'; fool', etc. It's the implied meaning that counts.

[YamazakiSusumu]

Baka doesn't directly translate as anything.
LOL Actually, if you look at the two kanji that make up the word (even though you'll often see it written in hiragana or even katakana), it means "horse deer." Yeah... I have no idea why... :S

[Vodrake]

LOL Actually, if you look at the two kanji that make up the word (even though you'll often see it written in hiragana or even katakana), it means "horse deer." Yeah... I have no idea why... :S

Yeah, I knew that. But I didn't mean it like that.:P

There's something about why in one of my 'teach yourself japanese' books, I'll quote it:


Why is Baka qritten with these Kanji? We were not able to come up with a definitive explanation, but here is a little background:

Other Kanji have been used to write baka but now [Horse Kanji][Deer Kanji] is pretty much the standard. Katakana is also frequently used to write baka in manga, especially when the delivery is forceful


There is a story in Chinese History of a Leader who called a stag a horse to test his subjects---he wanted to see whether they would be "yes men" or if they would stand up to him. It may be that a Japanese person who assigned these Kanji to baka knew of that story.


It could be that these Kanji were chosen simply because horses and deer are "dumb" animals. Ba is the standard reading for uma in combinations, so this was an easy choice, but shika is generally read roku when combined with other kanji, so it appears that the assigner of ateji was making a force fit for thesecond kanji.

[Kagi]

I believe the story stated in the second point went a little differently.

"八月己亥，趙高欲為亂，恐群臣不聽，乃先設驗，持鹿獻於二世，曰：“馬也。”二世笑曰：“丞相誤邪？謂鹿為 馬。”問左右，左右或默，或言馬以阿順趙高。或言鹿（者），高因陰中諸言鹿者以法。後群臣皆畏高。——《史 記·捲六·秦始皇本紀》"

It was someone who wanted to rebel who said the deer was the horse.

Yea, I never understood why they used the kanji horse deer (馬鹿). I guess it explains this quote.

Japanese is essentially a language that adopted the world's most complicated
writing system, and then made it worse. --Peter Bleackley

[i<3kakashi]

Baka is just what my friend told me. sry for the confusion.

And how do you get a 'teach yourself japanese' book?

[hakke]

Baka.

...what was the question? j/k :)