When trying to write in Japanese, I often come across words that have multiple
possible translations into Japanese, and am unsure which one to use. Though it
is difficult to make any general rule over what word to pick (as there isn't
an obvious basis of selection), one particular kind of choice that I often see
is whether to use lexical or grammatical forms of expression (namely, to form
漢語 expressions by concatenating words or adding affixes, or to split off words
and modify them with 文法). This boils down into three main questions, though
any advice on this general topic is appreciated as well:

  1. When negating 漢語, is there a way to tell whether 「【無・不・非・未】〜」 or 「〜ない」is more commonplace/acceptable/appropriate.

  2. When using 漢語 to modify other 漢語 (e.g. with 「〜的（な）〜」), is there a rule for when to break off and start using particles/okurigana, and when to create a compound (possibly with rendaku) as might be seen with gerund (not sure if gerund really makes sense here, but nominalized verb in case that is clearer) suffixes such as「〜狩り」and 「〜作り」

  3. Is there a rule for determining whether certain jukugo or their naturally alternatives (「血色›血の色」、「天地›天と地」、「星学›天文学」）are more appropriate, or even when the 熟語 version is rare or obsolete

Examples (of the (1) and (2)):

  * 【 **無** 関係】vs.【関係 **ない・なし** 】
  * 【宗教的 **な** 意識】vs. 【宗教的意識】
  * 【ケーキ **作り** 】vs. 【ケーキ **を** 作る（こと）】
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2017-05-17T22:57:13.413
47526
2017-09-13T07:55:52.573
21802
question
kanji particles suffixes compounds prefixes
「~ない」 vs 「無/不/非/未~」, 「的(な)<漢字>」, and general 熟語/漢語 affixes versus grammatical forms)
Your question is too general and broad. There are rules of thumb but usually
no written rules.

For 「【無・不・非・未】〜」 or 「〜ない」, 無 usually means ない(not exists), 不 usually means
"not", 非 usually means "other than", and 未 usually means "not yet/completed"

For 【関係ない・なし】【宗教的な意識】vs. 【宗教的意識】, without 送り仮名, usually it tends to sound like
a term, and with 仮名 you can add an extra feel or nuance to it.

For 3, some words are dialectal/archaic/rare and some words are specific terms
which can't be replaced by other "equivalent" compound/word(e.g. 血色 vs.血の色).
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2017-05-17T23:41:41.090
47528
2017-05-17T23:41:41.090
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answer
Your question is too general and broad as is said in _someone_ 's answer, so I
am going to answer your question only on how to use the prefixal _kanji_ s
無/不/非/未 adding the meaning of negation to the following kanji word.

There are a lot of similar questions on the Internet because the question you
posted is also difficult even to Japanese. So I understand it is a much more
difficult problem for non-native Japanese learners who does not have enough
vocabulary. I would not like to say, because there is not a general rule for
it, it is the only way that you should learn it one by one to learn the use of
them.

After I examined some pairs of answer and question on the Internet that is
similar to your question closely, and I extracted some of the answers that I
judged to be easy to understand and show you them as follows:

* * *

**未｛み｝** is read 未｛いま｝だ～せず, which means " _it is not yet_ ...". 未 is used for
the thing which has not come out or realized yet, but its realization is
possible in the future.

Examples: 未完成｛みかんせい｝（未｛いま｝だ完成｛かんせい｝せず。 _it is not yet completed_ ）

未｛み｝了｛りょう｝、未｛み｝刊｛かん｝、未｛み｝決｛けつ｝、未｛み｝解決｛かいけつ｝、未知｛みち｝、未知数｛みちすう｝、未｛み｝定｛てい｝、未｛み｝明｛めい｝、未｛み｝婚｛こん｝、未｛み｝開｛かい｝、未開地｛みかいち｝、未｛み｝遂｛すい｝、

殺人｛さつじん｝未遂｛みすい｝、未｛み｝然｛ぜん｝、未然｛みぜん｝防止｛ぼうし｝、未｛み｝満｛まん｝、二十歳｛はたち｝未満｛みまん｝、未｛み｝熟｛じゅく｝

* * *

**無｛む｝** is read ～なし, which means "there isn't ...", "there's nothing of ..."
or "... doesn't exist".

Examples: 無｛む｝関心｛かんしん｝（関心｛かんしん｝がない。 _unconcerned_ or _there is not concern to_
）、 無｛む｝気｛き｝力｛りょく｝（気｛き｝力｛りょく｝がない。 _There is not willpower._ ）

無｛む｝人｛じん｝、無｛む｝力｛りょく｝、無｛む｝口｛くち｝、無｛む｝分別｛ふんべつ｝、無｛む｝用｛よう｝、無｛ぶ｝礼｛れい｝、無｛む｝血｛けつ｝、無血｛むけつ｝革命｛かくめい｝、無｛む｝自覚｛じかく｝、無｛む｝名｛めい｝、無我｛むが｝夢中｛むちゅう｝、無｛む｝言｛ごん｝、  
無｛む｝条件｛じょうけん｝、無｛む｝声｛せい｝、無声｛むせい｝映画｛えいが｝、無｛む｝学｛がく｝、無｛む｝効｛こう｝、無事｛ぶじ｝、無｛む｝実｛じつ｝、無｛む｝実｛じつ｝の罪｛つみ｝、無｛む｝邪気｛じゃき｝、無知｛むち｝、無｛む｝定見｛ていけん｝、無｛む｝念｛ねん｝、無念｛むねん｝無想｛むそう｝、無｛む｝法｛ほう｝、無法｛むほう｝地帯｛ちたい｝、無為｛むい｝無策｛むさく｝、無｛む｝音｛おん｝、無垢｛むく｝、無｛む｝限｛げん｝、無｛む｝益｛えき｝、無｛む｝根｛こん｝、事実｛じじつ｝無根｛むこん｝、無｛ぶ｝粋｛すい｝、  
無｛む｝造作｛ぞうさ｝、無恥｛むち｝、無｛む｝能｛のう｝、無｛む｝病｛びょう｝、無視｛むし｝、無｛む｝宿｛じゅく｝、無｛む｝情｛じょう｝、無｛む｝常｛じょう｝、無｛む｝断｛だん｝、無｛む｝欲｛よく｝、無理｛むり｝、無｛む｝援｛えん｝、  
孤立｛こりつ｝無援｛むえん｝、無期｛むき｝、無｛む｝税｛ぜい｝、無｛ぶ｝愛想｛あいそう｝、無｛む｝意識｛いしき｝、無｛む｝感覚｛かんかく｝、無｛む｝数｛すう｝、無｛む｝頓着｛とんちゃく｝、無｛ぶ｝遠慮｛えんりょ｝、無｛む｝関心｛かんしん｝、無｛む｝縁｛えん｝、  
無｛む｝敵｛てき｝、無｛む｝論｛ろん｝、無｛む｝謀｛ぼう｝、無｛む｝償｛しょう｝、無｛む｝職｛しょく｝、無｛む｝題｛だい｝、無｛ぶ｝類｛るい｝

* * *

Basically, **不** and **非** have the same meaning. As for their difference, 不
is used to negate a declinable word (verb / adjective / adjectival noun), and
非 is used to negate an indeclinable word (noun / pronoun).  
So 不｛ふ｝ is read ～せず meaning "do not" or "not", and 非｛ひ｝ is read ～にあらず meaning
"non-".

Examples:不｛ふ｝能｛のう｝（能｛あた｝わず：できない）

不｛ふ｝可能｛かのう｝、不｛ふ｝正｛せい｝、不｛ふ｝公平｛こうへい｝、不｛ふ｝平｛へい｝、不平｛ふへい｝不満｛ふまん｝、不｛ふ｝本意｛ほんい｝、
**不｛ふ｝用｛よう｝** 、不用品｛ふようひん｝、 **不｛ふ｝要｛よう｝** 、不要｛ふよう｝不急｛ふきゅう｝、不｛ふ｝用意｛ようい｝、  
不｛ふ｝吉｛きつ｝、不｛ふ｝朽｛ふきゅう｝、不朽｛ふきゅう｝の名作｛めいさく｝、不｛ふ｝合理｛ごうり｝、不｛ふ｝在｛ざい｝、不死｛ふし｝、不老｛ふろう｝不死｛ふし｝、不死身｛ふじみ｝、不｛ふ｝成立｛せいりつ｝、不｛ふ｝当｛とう｝、不｛ふ｝完全｛かんぜん｝、不｛ふ｝見識｛けんしき｝、不｛ふ｝言｛げん｝、不言｛ふげん｝実行｛じっこう｝、不｛ふ｝幸｛こう｝、不｛ふ｝作｛さく｝、不｛ふ｝足｛そく｝、不｛ふ｝満足｛まんぞく｝、不利｛ふり｝、不｛ふ｝良｛りょう｝、不｛ふ｝況｛きょう｝、不｛ふ｝屈｛くつ｝、不｛ふ｝始末｛しまつ｝、  
不｛ふ｝忠｛ちゅう｝、不｛ふ｝定｛てい｝、不｛ふ｝服｛ふく｝、不｛ふ｝法｛ほう｝、不法｛ふほう｝所持｛しょじ｝、不｛ふ｝明｛めい｝、不｛ふ｝明瞭｛めいりょう｝、不夜｛ふや｝城｛じょう｝、不和｛ふわ｝、不｛ぶ｝格好｛かっこう｝

Examples:非｛ひ｝常口｛じょうぐち｝（常｛つね｝の口｛くち｝にあらず。 _an emergency exit_ , literally _not a
usual exit_ ）

非｛ひ｝人情｛にんじょう｝、非｛ひ｝力｛りき｝、非｛ひ｝凡｛ぼん｝、非｛ひ｝常｛じょう｝、非｛ひ｝礼｛れい｝、非｛ひ｝行｛こう｝、非行｛ひこう｝少年｛しょうねん｝、非｛ひ｝常識｛じょうしき｝、非｛ひ｝情｛じょう｝、悲｛ひ｝運｛うん｝、非｛ひ｝道｛どう｝、  
極悪｛ごくあく｝非道｛ひどう｝、非｛ひ｝番｛ばん｝、非｛ひ｝業｛ごう｝、非業｛ひごう｝の死｛し｝を遂｛と｝げる、非｛ひ｝難｛なん｝

* * *

**Difference between 不用 and 不要**  
Whether it is useful/worthy or not: 不用｛ふよう｝⇔入用｛にゅうよう｝/入用｛いりよう｝  
Whether it is necessary or not: 不要｛ふよう｝/不必要｛ふひつよう｝⇔必要｛ひつよう｝

[Source](https://oshiete.goo.ne.jp/qa/5084495.html)
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2017-05-22T15:15:02.960
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2017-05-23T02:16:13.423
2017-05-23T02:16:13.423
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answer