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Google translate says 日本語 means Japanese.

It also says:

  * 語 means "word"
  * 本 means "this"
  * 日 means "day"

So how do you get "Japanese" out of these three kanji?
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2015-05-22T23:00:03.730
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2017-09-20T22:26:18.103
2015-05-24T01:44:36.497
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words meaning
Why does 日本語{にほんご} mean Japanese?
* 日 Can also mean "Sun"
  * 本 Can mean "Origin"
  * 語 Can mean "language"

If you look at the Japanese Flag ,you will notice there is a big red circle.
That is a sun. The sun is a very important object in Japanese folklore.
Another thing is that 日本語 refers to the Japanese language which we often just
refer to as Japanese
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2015-05-22T23:19:52.617
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2015-05-22T23:19:52.617
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* 語 is the suffix which means 'language'. Unlike English which needs two different nouns for a country and its language, in Japanese, you can simply add 語 after the name of a country to mean the language spoken in that country. (e.g. ドイツ = Germany, ドイツ語 = German, フランス = France, フランス語 = French)
  * 日本 is one word made of two characters, meaning 'Japan'. Etymologically [it can be further analyzed](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_Japan#Nihon_and_Nippon) (日 (Sun) + 本 (origin) => the rising Sun), but no one cares about that in everyday life.
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2015-05-22T23:36:50.987
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2015-05-22T23:48:31.753
2015-05-22T23:48:31.753
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