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執筆者の写真There Goes Nihongo

金のはなし:金の話をしましょう。


金閣寺(きんかくじ) Kinkak(u)ji Temple

「金」 is used to mean MONEY, GOLD, METAL, etc.

1.MONEY

「お金がもっと欲しい。」(おかねが もっと ほしい。)

should be:

I want more money, or I’d like to make more money.


「お金がない。」(おかねが ない。)

should be:

I don’t have (enough) money.

You can omit 「お」 of 「お金」(おかね) for the same meaning, but it may sound rough, especially in speech.

「お金持ち」(おかねもち) or 「金持ち」(かねもち)

is rich or a rich person.


「お金持ちになりたい。」(おかねもちに なりたい。)

I want to be rich. / I wish I would be rich. / I wish I were rich.

「時は金なり。」(ときは かねなり。)

is the popular translation from the English saying:

Time is money.

「金を食う」(かねをくう)

is used when something or someone costs much money, because you need to spend so much money that it looks as if it were eating money.


「車は金を食う。」(くるまは かねを くう。)

Having a car costs a lot of money.

Do not say 「お金を食べる」(おかねをたべる) to try to say the phrase politely. Because 「金を食う」(かねをくう) is a set expression, you can’t say the other way for the meaning of costing much money.

「お金を食べる」(おかねをたべる) should literally mean ‘eating coins and paper money and putting them into your mouth.’

「金食い虫」(かねくいむし)

is not the name of a bug. It’s a person who costs a lot of money from other people, especially from other members of a group, an organization, or a family.

It also means something, especially a project which yields low return.


「めったに乗らないヨットなんて、ただの金食い虫だ。」

(めったに のらない ヨットなんて、ただの かねくいむしだ。)

It's just throwing money away to have a yacht you rarely use.

「金回りがいい」(かねまわりが いい)

describes a situation where someone is having a lot of money, especially suddenly or for a short period of time. It suggests that money circulates around you like a current.

「彼は最近金回りがいいみたいだ。毎晩飲み歩いている。」

(かれは さいきん かねまわりが いい みたいだ。まいばんのみ あるいて いる。)

I hear he’s been rich recently. He’s hanging out and drinking every night.

「大金」(たいきん)

should be a large sum of money.

「あいつらは大金を儲けていた。」

(あいつらは たいきんを もうけて いた。)

They were earning big money.


「現金」(げんきん)

is CASH. 「現」 in this sense means ‘what you can see’ or ‘tangible.’

「現なま」(げんなま) is an informal word for it. 「なま」 means RAW.

「公金」(こうきん)

should be PUBLIC MONEY or FUNDS.

「彼は5百万円の公金横領で有罪となった。」

(かれは ごひゃくまんえんの こうきん おうりょうで ゆうざいと なった。)

He was found guilty of embezzling five million yen of public funds.

2.GOLD
「金色」 is GOLD color.

It reads きんいろ or こんじき. こんじき should be poetic nowadays.

However, 「黄金色」 is also GOLD color and it reads こがねいろ.


It might sound confusing, but

「黄金」 reads こがね or おうごん.

「黄金時代」(おうごんじだい) is a golden age.

「19世紀は大英帝国の黄金時代だ。」

(じゅうきゅう せいきは だいえいていこくの おうごん じだいだ。)

The 19th century was the golden age of the British Empire.

「金星」 is Venus when you read きんせい, and a great victory or success when you read きんぼし.

We’ll need to be careful: All that glitters is not gold.

「光るもの必ずしも金ならず。」

(ひかるもの かならずしもきん ならず。)

Something or someone that seems attractive and valuable at first might turn out to be worthless.

空っぽ(からっぽ) is EMPTY.

「彼は見た目は格好いいけど、中身は空っぽかもよ。光るもの必ずしも金ならずって言うし。」

(かれは みためは かっこう いいけど、なかみは からっぽかもよ。ひかるもの かならずしも きん ならずって いうし。)

He may look good but his head might be empty. They say all that glitters is not gold.

「沈黙は金。」(ちんもくは きん。)

Silence is golden.

What this proverb 諺(ことわざ) means to say is to praise silence rather than speech or eloquence.

I wonder if Europeans and Americans agree on this proverb. An English version says:

Speech is silver, silence is golden; or speaking is silver, silence is gold.


金と銀(きんと ぎん): gold and silver

The Japanese translation is:

「沈黙は金、雄弁は銀。」

(ちんもくは きん、ゆうべんは ぎん。)

Some dictionaries say this proverb is originally from Nederland オランダ; others Deutschland ドイツ―back to the middle of the 19th. Century.

日本の学者(にほんの がくしゃ) Japanese scholars seem to have long been wondering why this proverb was created by European people, because their received wisdom told them that, in European culture, they praised eloquence rather than silence.

The Japanese scholars’ suspicions were right.

The story goes like this. Until the 19th. Century 19世紀(じゅうきゅう せいき), the European countries except the UK 英国(えいこく) had ‘the silver standard銀本位制(ぎん ほんい せい). Silver was more important than gold. The proverb actually meant that eloquence 雄弁(ゆうべん) was more important than silence!

銀食器(ぎんしょっき): silverware

Then the European countries 欧州諸国(おうしゅう しょこく) transferred their economic system from the silver standard to the gold standard 金本位制(きん ほんい せい).

However, the proverb has not been changed and it has prevailed from Germany to other countries.

When the proverb was imported to Japan, the original meaning was changed!

The proverb was easily accepted in Japan because silence has really been praised since long time ago. There was no question of the Japanese believing SILENCE IS GOLDEN.

金銀銅メダル(きん ぎん どう メダル): gold, silver and bronze medals

「金メダル」(きんメダル) is a gold medal.
「銀メダル」(ぎんメダル) is a silver medal.
「銅メダル」(どうメダル) is a bronze medal.

金髪(きんぱつ): blonde hair

「金髪」(きんぱつ) is blonde hair.

金の卵(きんのたまご): golden eggs

「金の卵」(きんのたまご)

is a young person who shows signs of being good or successful.

「彼は金の卵かも知れない。」

(かれは きんの たまごかも しれない。)

He might be a golden egg.

3.METAL

When you have a very strong and reliable person on your side and you feel nothing to worry, you can say

「鬼に金棒」(おにに かなぼう).

「鬼」(おに) is a monstrous devil and strong already. If it has 「金棒」(かなぼう), you’ll have nothing to worry about at all.

鬼に金棒(おにに かなぼう)

「彼がいてくれれば鬼に金棒だ。」

(かれが いて くれれば おにに かなぼうだ。)

We’ll have nothing to worry about as long as he’s on our side.

「金属」(きんぞく) is METAL.
「貴金属」(き きんぞく) is NOBLE METAL or PRECIOUS METAL.

貴金属(ききんぞく): noble metals

「貴金属店」(ききんぞくてん) should be a jewelry store.

金づち(かなづち): hammers
「金づち」(かなづち) is a hammer.

It also means a person who don’t know how to swim because a hammer will sure sink into the water.






「実は、金づちなんです。」

(じつは、かなづち なんです。)

To tell the truth, I can’t swim.

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