I used Google translate and used the following translation provided by Google
for 'possibly' in a letter I wrote

> 可能性もある _kanōsei mo aru_

Later I tried looking up the word in the dictionary, and couldn't find it. All
I found was _kanō_ 可能, the first two kanji, then looked up the third kanji
_sei_ 性 which means 'sex'. So that 可能性もある would translate into 'possibility of
sex'? I've already sent the letter, without realizing. Will a Japanese person
interpret 可能性もある like this?
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-16T13:14:36.287
60904
2018-08-16T14:12:09.860
2018-08-16T14:12:09.860
1628
30986
question
translation english-to-japanese suffixes nouns
Is Kanōsei a word?
Here ～性【せい】 is an ending similar to _-(i)ty_ , _-ness_ , _-cy_. For matters of
illustration,

> 可能 + 性 = 可能性 ↔ _possible_ + _-(i)ty_ = _possibility_
>
> 安全 + 性 = 安全性 ↔ _secure_ + _-(i)ty_ = _security_

Indeed, 性 can also mean "gender" (although it cannot mean sexual intercourse),
but this is not how 性 is used in 可能性, and no "Japanese person" would
misunderstand this.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-16T14:09:57.470
60906
2018-08-16T14:09:57.470
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
-1
1628
60904
answer