慣用句

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 慣用句 combines 慣用, conventional usage, with 句, a phrase, and is read かんようく.
• Basic usage: It denotes an established idiomatic phrase whose full meaning may not follow directly from its individual words.
  • 授業で体の部分を使った慣用句を学んだ。 identifies expressions studied in class, while この慣用句を直訳すると意味が通じにくい。 notes that a literal translation may not convey the meaning.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Limits of literal translation
  • The established meaning of a 慣用句 matters more than a word-for-word sum, so 直訳 may fail to communicate the intended sense.
• 慣用句 and ことわざ
  • A ことわざ is often a complete proverb conveying a general lesson or observation. 慣用句 also covers idiomatic phrases used as parts of larger sentences.
• Body-part expressions
  • 体の部分を使った means that a body-part term occurs in the phrase; it does not mean the sentence must describe a literal bodily action.