law

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 法 has 8 strokes and appears in words for rules and law.
• Basic usage: 文法 is read ぶんぽう, and 法律 is read ほうりつ.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• A changed on-reading
  • 法 in 文法 is read ぽう; the ほう from 法律 is not carried over unchanged.
• What the rules concern
  • 文法に誤りがある means that a sentence has a grammatical error.
  • 法律を守る means obeying the law, distinct from 文法, which concerns the rules of language and sentences.