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Subject: Re: kanji of decimal units
From: TAKASUGI Shinji (ts
sf.airnet.ne.jp)
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2004 14:39:42 GMT
References: 1, 2
The Japanese decimal units are shown below.
| Unit | Kanji | Pronunciation
|
|---|
| 10-1 | 分 | bu
|
| 10-2 | 厘 | rin
|
| 10-3 | 毛 | mô
|
| 10-4 | 糸 | shi
|
| 10-5 | 忽 | kotsu
|
| 10-6 | 微 | bi
|
| 10-7 | 繊 | sen
|
| 10-8 | 沙 | sha
|
| 10-9 | 塵 | jin
|
| 10-10 | 埃 | ai
|
| 10-11 | 渺 | byô
|
| 10-12 | 漠 | baku
|
| 10-13 | 模糊 | moko
|
| 10-14 | 逡巡 | shunjun
|
| 10-15 | 須臾 | shuyu
|
| 10-16 | 瞬息 | shunsoku
|
| 10-17 | 弾指 | danshi
|
| 10-18 | 刹那 | setsuna
|
| 10-19 | 六徳 | rittoku
|
There are several units under 六徳.
These units were used with units of length, weight, volume, etc. For example, Japanese used 尺 (shaku, about 30.3cm) and 寸 (sun, about 3.03cm) for length before adopting the metric system. 1.234 尺 was called 1 尺 2 寸 3 分 4 厘, because there was no smaller unit than 寸.
The unit for ratio and interest rate was 割 (wari), which means 1/10. The interest rate of 15% was called 1 割 5 分. This 割 has become the basic unit of ratio, which makes smaller units confusing. Even though 厘 originally meant 1/100, it usually means 1/1000 now because 割 is used for 1/10.
Link:
大きな数と小さな数
数の雑学
Unit Expression English-Japanese
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