練

      

練 by Unicode Utilities at Mac and at Linux

Nerima by Google at map

練 (練, X7DF4) is Unicode character number 32244, KanjiLiberal.

Character X7DF4 練 can be pronounced as "neru" or "neri".
It may refer to practice, treatment.

Character X7DF4 練 is easy to confuse with other Unicode characters.

Neri, Uma and Nerima

Character 練 (or other Neri) often appears in combination with one of characters uma:
X2FBA ⾺ , KanjiRadical or
X99AC 馬 , KanjiLiberal

Example: 練馬

Such a combination refers to Nerima, prefecture near Tokyo.

At the vehicle license plates, character 練 appears with the specific font (see figure below), that may have no analogies in computers. It looks similar to characters Neri. Character X7DF4 練 seems to be more usual, than other Neri. For this reasons, the first kanji at the license plates shown in figures below, is treated as unicode character 練 X7DF4.

Encoding

Character X7DF4 練 is easy to confuse with other Kanjis.

The Unicode Utilities report the confusion for the following characters:
X7DF4 練 , KanjiLiberal
XF996 練 , KanjiConfudal
XFA57 練 , KanjiConfudal
XFAB0 練 , out of tables of Kanjis loaded in TORI.

At some computers, these characters look similar.
Even a native Japanese speaker, seeng characters 練, 練, 練, is unlikely to answer:
Which of them is X7DF4?
Which of them is XF996?
Which of them is XFA57?

The software also may confuse these characters, replacing 練 and 練 to 練 (giving to a Human no chance to identify such a character).

In order to avoid the confusion, distinguish these characters, some programming is necessary. The Utf8 encoding of these characters can be calculated using the PHP program ud.t by command

php ud.t 7DF4 F996 FA57 FAB0

The output is:

7DF4 32244 練 練
Unicode character number 32244 id est, X7DF4
Picture: 練 ; uses 3 bytes. These bytes are:
XE7 XB7 XB4 in the hexadecimal representation and
231 183 180 in the decimal representation

F996 63894 練 練
Unicode character number 63894 id est, XF996
Picture: 練 ; uses 3 bytes. These bytes are:
XEF XA6 X96 in the hexadecimal representation and
239 166 150 in the decimal representation

FA57 64087 練 練
Unicode character number 64087 id est, XFA57
Picture: 練 ; uses 3 bytes. These bytes are:
XEF XA9 X97 in the hexadecimal representation and
239 169 151 in the decimal representation

FAB0 64176 練 練
Unicode character number 64176 id est, XFAB0
Picture: 練 ; uses 3 bytes. These bytes are:
XEF XAA XB0 in the hexadecimal representation and
239 170 176 in the decimal representation

Teachers of Japanese, as well as the textbooks of Japanese, do not even mention the problem of the encoding. They leave the students to learn to handle the errors, bugs, mistakes and other problems, related with the encoding, by themselves.
The same refers to dictionaries and to software, that supports the Unicode characters: the authors of not even mention that some characters look very similar, letting the users to guess by themselves: why the "same" character is interpreted in different ways?
The revealing of the characters that make confusion (looking similar to each other) may reduce amount of patients of psychiatric clinics, who loss their minds in believe, that they forgot to write something, while the different encoding of the "same" character happens.

Graphic

練 looks as combination of two columns:

Left:

1. ascii character "<" o rmirrored ascii character "y"

2. JapanMu, any of characters
X2F1B ⼛ , KanjiRadical
X30E0 ム , Katakana, KatakanaMu
X53B6 厶 , KanjiLiberal

3. JapanSmall, any of characters X2F29 ⼩ or X5C0F 小

Right:

X6771 東

View of character X7DF4 strongly depend on the software; looking at its presentation at Macintosh and at Linux, it is difficult to guess, that they show the same Kanji.

Equally difficult is to guess, that the first kanji, that appears at the vehicle license plate of Nerima prefecture is just slightly modified character
X7DF4 練 , KanjiLiberal or
XF996 練 , KanjiConfudal or
XFA57 練 , KanjiConfudal
that can be considered as synonyms: they have similar drawing, similar pronunciation and similar meaning.

Jisho

練 by Jisho

Jisho suggests:

練

14 strokes

Radical: silk 糸 (糹)

Parts: ｜ ハ 小 幺 日 木 田 糸

practice, gloss, train, drill, polish, refine

Kun: ね.る、 ね.り

On: レン

Jōyō kanji, taught in grade 3

JLPT level N2

788 of 2500 most used kanji in newspapers

On reading compounds
練習 【レンシュウ】 practice, training, drill, (an) exercise, workout
練達 【レンタツ】 expert(ise), skill, dexterity
修練 【シュウレン】 training, drill, practice, practising, discipline
水練 【スイレン】 swimming practice

Kun reading compounds
練る 【ねる】 to knead, to thicken into a paste (stirring over a flame), to polish (a plan, etc.), to refine, to elaborate, to work out, to train, to drill, to exercise, to gloss (silk), to soften, to degum, to tan (leather), to temper (steel), to walk in procession, to parade, to march
練り 【ねり】 kneading, gloss, tempering, paste (e.g. bean paste, mustard paste), parading of portable shrines and floats at festivals
練り上げる 【ねりあげる】 to knead well, to polish, to refine

Nihongomaster

Nihongomaster suggests:

練 14 Strokes Radicals: ｜ 糸 幺 小 日 ハ 木 JLPT Level 2

Definition of 練 practice gloss train drill polish refine

Readings On'Yomi (音読み) レン
Kun'yomi (訓読み) ねる ねり

Popular Words With This Kanji

練習, れんしゅう practice, practise

訓練, 訓連, くんれん practice, practise, training

練る, 煉る, ねる to knead, to thicken into a paste (stirring over a flame), to polish (a plan, etc.), to refine, to elaborate, to work out, to train, to drill, to exercise, to gloss (silk), to soften, to degum, to tan (leather), to temper (steel), to walk in procession, to parade, to march

試練, 試煉, 試錬, しれん test, trial, probation, ordeal, tribulation

洗練, 洗煉, 洗錬, せんれん polish, refinement

熟練, じゅくれん skill, dexterity, proficiency

未練, みれん lingering affection, attachment, regret, regrets, reluctance

練り直す, 練りなおす, 練直す, ねりなおす to knead again, to rework, to revise, to polish

Confusion

Character X7DF4 練 is qualified as Neri.

It looks similar to other Neri characters, this may cause confusion. This confusion is recognized in the literature .

Character X7DF4 練 seems to be more usual than other Neri characters, as it is presented both in Jisho and in Nihongomaster .

None of these dictionaries mention the most often use of character X7DF4 練, namely, in word Nerima (for example, 練馬).

References

Keywords

Japanese, Kanji, KanjiConfudal, KanjiLiberal, KanjiRadical, Neri, Nerima, Uma, Unicode, X7DF4 練 , XF996 練 , XFA57 練 ,