I am getting confused when translating from English to Japanese with "-styles"
"-types" and "-kinds" of things, methods and equipment.

For sure, I know that "式"(or 方式) is applied to methods of doing something,
like measuring, or solving equations. "型" is for structural composition of
physical objects. "系" looks like suitable for types of work, like research,
manufacturing, financial.

But there are some things in between, like "a device using an A functional
component for doing something". So, is it A式(because of its function),
A系(because of class of devices based on A), or A型(because A-thing is in the
basis of design)?

Are there more or less strict rules for using 系 式 型 ?
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2019-09-06T00:40:46.203
70577
2019-09-06T11:15:02.090
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question
suffixes
What are the rules of using 系　式　型 for kinds of things and methods
系 is used to emphasize a product belongs to a certain large "family" or
"series". For example, a modern CPU belongs to either ARM系 or x86系. Your
smartphone is probably either iPhone系 or Android系. Unsurprisingly, it's
relatively rare to coin a new word that ends with 系.

式 and 型 are often interchangeable, but 式 mainly refers to a type of
technology/method, whereas 型 vaguely refers to any "type" or "model". You can
use 空冷式エンジン and 空冷型エンジン interchangeably ("air-cooled engine"). You can say
人間型ロボット ("humanoid robot") but not 人間式ロボット because 人間 itself is not a type of
technology. (年式 as in 1990年式の自動車 is different from 式 explained here. 式 also
takes a person/place name, for example 日本式庭園.)
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2019-09-06T01:33:10.143
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2019-09-06T11:15:02.090
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answer