Review of Roots de naruhodo Kanyouku Jiten by Maiko Covington

This is a VERY handy dictionary of kanyouku (idioms). These are all those sayings like "Kokoro ga sawagu" or "Kosi ga nukeru" or "te ni ase wo nigiru" etc. These are usually not found in proverb dictionaries, but you can't take the meaning of these literally either. This dictionary lists them by order of the reading and also has lookup by part of the body etc. For the entrance examination we have to know lots of these, mostly really obscure ones, and so it is handy to have. For each one it gives the meaning (the literal meaning, if it isn't really obvious, and the actual idiomatic meaning) and example sentences. It also tells the origin of the saying (hence the title).

☆ See all reviews by Maiko Covington.