Japaneseness. ← Back A4 · Four-character idioms — 20 N2 words
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Four-character idioms — 四字熟語

The compact idioms an editorial reaches for: trial and error, adapting to circumstances, two birds with one stone. Read each word aloud with its reading, then write it once on the line — in kana if you cannot yet write the kanji.

しこうさくご noun
試行錯誤 trial and error
りんきおうへん noun
臨機応変 adapting to circumstances
いっせきにちょう noun
一石二鳥 two birds with one stone
いしんでんしん noun
以心伝心 tacit understanding
じごうじとく noun
自業自得 you reap what you sow
はんしんはんぎ noun
半信半疑 half in doubt
むがむちゅう noun
無我夢中 utterly absorbed, in a trance
しくはっく noun
四苦八苦 struggling desperately
いきとうごう noun
意気投合 hitting it off
いっちょういったん noun
一長一短 merits and demerits
しんきいってん noun
心機一転 a fresh start, turning over a new leaf
じゅうにんといろ noun
十人十色 to each their own
せんさばんべつ noun
千差万別 all different, infinite variety
たしゅたよう な-adj
多種多様 of many kinds
いちぶしじゅう noun
一部始終 the whole story, from beginning to end
だいどうしょうい noun
大同小異 much the same, differing only in detail
ふかこうりょく noun
不可抗力 force majeure, beyond one's control
ぜんだいみもん noun
前代未聞 unheard of
ごんごどうだん noun
言語道断 outrageous, beyond words
ゆうじゅうふだん noun
優柔不断 indecisive
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Vocabulary N2 · set 70 of 75 · 2 / 2 · recall
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Four-character idioms — from memory

Cover page 1. Write the Japanese for each meaning (kana is fine), then write what each word in part 2 means. Page 1 is the answer key.

1    Write the Japanese
tacit understanding
noun
you reap what you sow
noun
outrageous, beyond words
noun
merits and demerits
noun
two birds with one stone
noun
all different, infinite variety
noun
much the same, differing only in detail
noun
trial and error
noun
of many kinds
な-adj
struggling desperately
noun
2    What does it mean?
十人十色
臨機応変
一部始終
優柔不断
不可抗力
意気投合
心機一転
前代未聞
無我夢中
半信半疑
japaneseness.com · answers on page 1 Japaneseness · CC BY-SA 4.0