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They're both pronounced the same, and seem to mean the same thing; is there a
difference, and if so, what is it?
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2016-10-20T05:06:38.647
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2016-10-22T06:18:38.840
2016-10-22T06:18:38.840
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question
word-choice usage kanji nuances homophonic-kanji
When to use 云う vs 言う?
Broadly speaking, 云う seems to be somewhat more old-fashioned in use. It
appears with some frequency in Natsume Soseki's works, but not so much in
recent publications, which use 言う instead.

[The Weblio page giving the Daijirin
entry](http://www.weblio.jp/content/%E4%BA%91%E3%81%86) show that the 言う
spelling is _jōyō_ , while the 云う spelling is not (the black downward-pointing
triangle indicates non- _jōyō_ characters). Moreover, towards the bottom of
the long entry, we get this:

> (2) 漢字表記は現代では「言」が主に用いられる。古くは❸ ③ には「云」がよく用いられ，「謂」は「いわば」「いわゆる」の場合に用いられた。
>
> (2) For the kanji spelling, 言 is the main modern usage. In older times, 云
> was often used for sense ❸ ③ [ _note: prefaced as_ （「…だと言う」「…と言う」の形で）], and
> 謂 was used for いわば{iwaba} and いわゆる{iwayuru}.
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2016-10-20T05:23:16.067
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2016-10-20T05:23:16.067
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answer