I am doing a research on differences between kanji and hanzi and accidentally
stumbled across the term 同形の別字. The article that refers to it doesn't
elaborate on its meaning. Does that term mean similar character shape but
different meanings in Chinese and Japanese? I'm still not so good at Japanese
so I am sorry if this question is lame.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-14T04:33:32.027
57920
2018-04-15T10:53:13.367
2018-04-14T10:55:11.123
1628
29554
question
kanji definitions chinese
About 同形の別字 and its meaning
> Does that term mean similar character shape but different meanings in
> Chinese and Japanese?

Essentially, yes, but...

「同形別字」 or 「同形異字」 literally means "same shape, different character". Something
similar happens all the time with 部首 (radicals): for example the radical forms
of 肉 and 月 should be said to be "same shape, different radical".

The same can happen with full characters, for example when a character is
simplified into an existing one, examples being

  * 藝 > 芸​【ゲイ】 vs. 芸​【ウン】
  * 燈 > 灯​【トウ・トン】 vs. 灯​【チョウ・テイ・チン】
  * 濱 > 浜​【ヒン】 vs. 浜​【ホウ・ヒョウ】

Note that Chinese simplifies 藝 > 艺 and 芸 is a separate character. (Similarly,
for 濱 > 滨 vs. 浜.) However, @droooze points out that Chinese also has other
examples of 同形異字, such as 后 & 後 > 后 or 發 & 髮 > 发.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-14T10:53:25.700
57924
2018-04-14T13:09:01.797
2018-04-14T13:09:01.797
1628
1628
57920
answer
Without knowing the article that you found the term `同形の別字` in, a common
description seems to be something like _characters/components which are (now)
the same form but were originally different_. This doesn't have to be a
difference between Japanese and Chinese, and there are `同形の別字` found entirely
within Japanese kanji itself, as already provided by @Earthliŋ♦'s answer. For
other full characters and component form examples in Japanese that are the
_same form but different characters/components_ ,

  * 「⺍」, merger of「炏」,「吅」, and the top part of「」(cf. 栄, 営, 厳, 単, 学, 覚 vs. 榮, 營, 嚴, 單, 學, 覺)
  * 「缶」, merger of「罐」and「缶」(フ or フウ)
  * 「糸」, merger of「絲」and「糸」(ミャク or ベキ)
  * 「云」(right-hand component form only), merger of「專」and「云」 (cf. 伝, 転 vs. 傳, 轉)
  * 「己」(component form only), merger of「巳」and「己」(cf. {{ja:港}}, {{ja:包}} vs. {{zh-TW:港}}, {{zh-TW:包}})
  * 「豊」, merger of「豐」and「豊」
  * 「艹」, merger of「艹」,「廿」, and「艹」(cf. {{ja:漢}}, {{ja:夢}} vs. {{zh-TW:漢}}, {{zh-TW:夢}})

Note carefully the distinction between `同形の別字` and related (sometimes
overlapping) concepts:

  * `[国訓]{こっくん}` - _Japan-specific readings_
  * `[通仮字]{つうかじ}` - [_phonetic substitutions_](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%80%9A%E4%BB%AE%E5%AD%97)
  * `多音字` - [_heterophonous characters_](https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A4%9A%E9%9F%B3%E5%AD%97)
  * `異体字` - _[variant characters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variant_Chinese_character)_ , different characters (or components of different characters) which represent the same underlying morpheme, which includes the following groups: 
    * `新字体` vs. `旧字体`, `簡體字` vs. `繁體字` (Shinjitai vs. Kyūjitai, Simplified Chinese vs. Traditional Chinese)
    * `[俗字]{ぞくじ}` vs. `[正字]{せいじ}` (vulgar characters vs. orthodox characters)
    * [`新字形`](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xin_Zixing) vs. [`康煕字典体/舊字形`](https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E8%88%8A%E5%AD%97%E5%BD%A2) (new character forms vs. old character forms)
    * `略字` (abbreviated characters)
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-15T10:46:59.287
57944
2018-04-15T10:53:13.367
2018-04-15T10:53:13.367
26510
26510
57920
answer