help with this character?

[xcalibur201]

I can't find this character or its meaning online, so here's a pic:



I expect it to mean something like "twin" or "double", if that helps.

thanks in advance.

[Sumippi]

Originally Posted by xcalibur201

I can't find this character or its meaning online, so here's a pic:



I expect it to mean something like "twin" or "double", if that helps.

thanks in advance.

I think it's one of the ancient hiragana letters.

「い」=「ゐ」、came from 「為」. The second letter in わ line.

wa=わ、
wi=ゐ、（＝い）←this one.
we=ゑ、（＝え）
wo=を。

[Nyororin]

It looks almost like a very stylized み to me...

Either way though, it would have no specific meaning by itself. It isn't going to mean twin or something like that. It is phonetic.

Think of it as along the lines of an A or a B.

[JohnBraden]

Originally Posted by Nyororin

It looks almost like a very stylized み to me...

Either way though, it would have no specific meaning by itself. It isn't going to mean twin or something like that. It is phonetic.

Think of it as along the lines of an A or a B.

Yeah, it looked like a み, ("mi" in romaji) to me as well.... It's as if it were meant to be an avatar of some sort....

[pokori]

I don't think it looks "mi" to a Japanese person...at least not to me. I tried so hard, but I just can't see mi from this picture... The first thing came to my mind was ゐ, like Sumippi san said, but then again it seems a bit weird at the ending stroke, so I hesitated to respond...
I also thought that it might be 丙's sousho?(草書or gyousho?) or something but that doesn't seem right either...

[ryuurui]

Its a cursive script (草書) of simplified form of kanji 雙, i.e 双, - "twin".

Hiragana み comes from the cursive scrip of the character 美 and it looks nothing like it in any script.

[Nyororin]

Thanks for the clarification.
My husband was adamant that it could not be ゐ because the last stroke was both separate and crossed over the line. (A big no-no) He also suggested a weird rounded み, so apparently it does look that way to some native Japanese who aren't familiar with script...

[ryuurui]

Originally Posted by Nyororin

Thanks for the clarification.
My husband was adamant that it could not be ゐ because the last stroke was both separate and crossed over the line. (A big no-no) He also suggested a weird rounded み, so apparently it does look that way to some native Japanese who aren't familiar with script...

Not at all. Hiragana ゐ is based on cursive form of　爲, which again looks differently than the one of 双. The bottom curve is round as the one of the cursive form of 鳥, and does not resemble the cursive form of 又.

Cursive script requires a lot of studies, and average Japanese person is unable to read it. Whats more, some cursive forms are very similar to one another, and The differences are very subtle. It's a lifelong studying.

[xcalibur201]

thanks guys, you were very helpful!

I should give some background - it's from the title screen of an old NES game, Double Dragon 2. As for why I'm asking, 1. curiosity, 2. ridiculously nerdy purposes.

i.e 双, - "twin".

that's what was given in the wiki blurb about it:

^ The kanji characters shown on the title screen are 双截龍, literally "Twin Intercepting Dragons". The characters on the title screen are as follows: shuang (double), jie (part of), long (dragon). This is an example of gikun, in which characters are used to represent a meaning or ideal and not for phonetic value.

thing is, "双" isn't the same as that cursive script depiction. does the cursive character appear in text?

instead of doing another screen grab, I'll put up this video of the title music, which has the screen with all 3 characters for reference:

Double Dragon 2 - Theme Song - YouTube

thanks again for the help. Nice site btw.

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by xcalibur201

thanks guys, you were very helpful!

I should give some background - it's from the title screen of an old NES game, Double Dragon 2. As for why I'm asking, 1. curiosity, 2. ridiculously nerdy purposes.



that's what was given in the wiki blurb about it:



thing is, "双" isn't the same as that cursive script depiction. does the cursive character appear in text?

That's a font issue.

Ryuurui is JF's resident super-expert on kanji orthography. If he says that's the cursive form of 双, then it's probably true. And yes, the cursive form and what's on your screen will possibly look very different. You should be seeing to shapes next to each other that look almost exactly the same (you know, like twins ).