Once I was chatting with a Japanese person on social media and she used a different way to write the verb "ver" (miru). This is a typical case of a word that can be written with a different kanji, but that has the same pronunciation and is basically the same verb. However, there are indeed differences and forms of use that we will address in this article.
The verb miru (見る) can mean see, look, watch, observe, evaluate, judge, examine, and many other things related. It is a very common word that uses a very simple kanji and is often used even to express things like "seem and equality," in addition to expressing ideas, opinions, and visions.
The homophonic verbs of miru (観る and 視る) have practically the same meaning but are used on certain occasions that we will highlight now. The first thing we should observe is that both of the 2 kanji of these homophones of miru have 見 as the radical on the right side, which can mean the same pronunciation and meaning.
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The verb miru 観る
While the traditional verb miru (見る) can be used at any time and in any occasion in general. The verb miru (観る) is usually used to specify something like:
- Look at a scenario or landscape, like a tourist;
- Watch some entertainment like TV or Theater;
- See a painting or vase;
So basically, (観る) is used when you are watching something. On the other hand, (見る) is more specific to the physical act of seeing, but the trend is to use it in both situations. We can simply conclude that one means to watch and the other means to see, but we cannot consider them as absolute words. 観る can also be related to meditation and divination in certain cases.
The other verbs miru 視る, 診る and 看る
The other verbs that are also pronounced miru and have meanings of seeing and looking are even more specific. Let's list them below along with their meanings and usage forms:
- 視る - Used in the sense of inspecting, monitoring, supervising, or contemplating;
- 診る – To examine (clinically), a doctor who examines a patient (The kanji also means to diagnose and );
- 看る – Caring (often in a medical way) nurse watching a patient (The kanji means to watch over, see);
Note that the last 2 verbs miru do not have the radical 見, but the meaning of their kanji involves seeing, which gave the reading to the verb. The verbs 覧る・覗る・監る also pronounce as miru but are not commonly used anymore. For this reason, we recommend avoiding their use and focusing only on 見る. that these ideograms are still used in other verbs such as 覗く.
There are similar cases with other Japanese verbs like in the case of the verb "to hear" (聞く, 聴く e 訊く). The best thing to do is to use jisho.org and research the meaning and usage of each of the verbs and the ideograms that compose the verb. I hope you enjoyed the article, we appreciate the shares. We also recommend checking out:
