Starting from the left upper corner and going clockwise direction:
1. It suppose to be 康, but the 隶 partial is all blurred together.
2. I have no idea what this character suppose to be.
3. 空 with the 穴 partial missing a dot on the right side.
4. 安 is correct and means "peaceful, tranquil, quiet".
5. 拳 with missing dot on the left upper corner and 手 partial is missing one horizontal stroke.
One out of five characters correct, I would give this a "F" grade.
My guesses for 2, in the order that they came to mind: fucked-up versions of 超， 道， 造 ，and 适.
ReplyDeleteI cannot shake the feeling that it is 方 mixed in with the 'path partial' from 道, but a search on zhongwen.com as well as WWWJDIC and using my handwriting recognition software turns up no such character.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that the second word is 逍 from 逍遥.
ReplyDeleteat first, i thot it might be 迶, but seeing as 道 is much more common (and in actual regular use), that would make more sense.
ReplyDeleteKyle - Are you thinking of 迈? Interesting. I can kind of see that...
ReplyDeleteDon't know about 逍, though 逍遥 would make a good motto. The two characters are bound morphemes a la 旮旯, aren't they?
Isn't 安 also used as "inexpensive," or is that only in Japanese?
ReplyDeletebrendan: I think you are right. I would never use 逍 by itself.
ReplyDeletedan: I don't think 安 ever means "inexpensive" in Chinese. I find it really interesting how identical characters can have very different meanings in Chinese and Japanese. For example, 忍 means "to tolerate" in Chinese but in Japanese, it means "to conceal" (as in "忍者"). Go figure.
I'm guessing a mutilated 道 as well. Hey, everyone loves 道. It must be one of the most popular Chinese tattoo characters amongst non-Daoists.
ReplyDelete忍 is also used for the "toleration" thing in Japanese, in words like 堅忍 (patience or perseverance) or phrases like 恥を忍ぶ (haji o shinobu, "swallow (your) pride" [literally "endure (your) shame"]).
ReplyDeleteI am guessing: if the #2 can be 道 then this could be a badly fucked-up 空道安康拳 reading vertically from right to left, whatever that is.
ReplyDelete^ Sounds like some sort of kung-fu move. =)
ReplyDeleteat quick glance, i thought it is 廉价 (cheap) for the first two words :) i'm from a simplified chinese country.
ReplyDeleteAt first glance, the second character was 道 to me. And it remains the same at subsequent glances.
ReplyDeleteThis is evidence of another way in which it is dangerous for those who can't read hanzi to get them tattooed: they can't evaluate the competence of the tattoo artist.
ReplyDeleteThe way these characters are rendered makes me think the artist was basing his style on the "chop suey" English-language typefaces once seen in Chinese restaurants. Ugh.
That third character kind of looks like 室 (not that it would make any more sense that way).