58684
I think this may simply be a difference between written and spoken Japanese.
But I've noticed that 木の皮 kinokawa is used regularly to mean "tree bark,"
while 樹皮 jyuhi appears to be more accurate but limited to signs or books or
other written materials. Is 樹皮 used in daily conversation ever?

This question arises from trying to translate "birch bark canoe" (built by
Northeast Native American tribes) and coming up with バーチ樹皮カヌー or something
similar.
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2018-05-15T23:14:43.017
58681
2018-05-16T01:10:56.097
19665
question
word-choice nuances
Difference between 木の皮 and 樹皮?
The difference is clear.

"Ki no kawa" is the originally Japanese word (and for that reason I wrote it
in romaji) and 「樹皮{じゅひ}」 is a Sino-loanword.

「木の皮」 is far more intuitive for Japanese speakers and kids learn the word at
least several years earlier than they learn 「樹皮」.

Accordingly, 「木の皮」 is an everyday word while 「樹皮」 sounds technical and
academic. That is the case with most of the Yamato vs. Sino word pairs used in
Japanese. Foreign-origin words get treated better in Japanese if I may
generalize.

Regarding "birch bark canoe", IMHO, using 「木の皮」 would make it sound quite
wordy and clumsy to our ears (partly because 「木の皮」 is actually three words
even without "birch" and "canoe"). Something like 「カバ樹皮カヌー」 might look and
sound better.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-16T01:10:56.097
58684
2018-05-16T01:10:56.097
58681
answer