又

again; and, also; on the other hand, or; "again" radical

Kanji 1835

Though 又 looks simple and has just one Joyo yomi, it's not so straightforward, as it can mean opposite things: "and" and "or." Mostly, it means "again," which also seems simple, but emotionally it's not. When things happen repeatedly, we have strong feelings, as we see in songs such as "When Will I See You Again?" or "I'll Never Love This Way Again." Because people often sing about repeating patterns in life, and because songs are inherently cyclical, I've found musical pairings for each nuance of “again," much as a sommelier finds wine to accompany any given dish. You'll be tapping your toes and singing along as you read! You'll also learn about 又 as a radical.

Revision history: 

Mar. 10, 2023: p. 8: I revamped the photo caption, presenting the vocab. under the sentence and adding a few definitions.

Oct. 29, 2022: p. 13: Straightened the photo and made several adjustments to the vocabulary, mostly reducing multiple definitions to just one. I also corrected the explanation about 処する; it now says that the verb is shown in the passive (not potential) form.

Dec. 20, 2021: p. 5 sidebar: In the Naniwa poem, I changed は to も and defined 我が身 as “myself.” I also added a comment about that poem. I added a second definition of 夢の又夢 (namely, “dream within a dream”). And I revised other parts of the sidebar to make the additions fit. 

June 22, 2021: p. 1: Deleted a stray punctuation mark.

Jan. 29, 2021: p. 3: Added hyphens to -時 (-じ: o’clock).

Jan. 9, 2020: 

• p. 1: Added the sound-alike 股 (2004: crotch).
• p. 2: Etymology Box: Completely revised the etymology discussion. 
• p. 10: Added a link to the Kanshudo games.
• p. 11: Deleted "crutch" as a definition of 股 (また).
• p. 13: Defined 1年 as "one year." For some reason, there was no definition!

July 17, 2015: Added "'again' radical" as a definition in the Character Profile on p. 1.

Apr. 11, 2013: On p. 13, I changed the yomi of 古井 to ふるい.

Mar. 31, 2013: Fixed links on pages 3,4, 6, 7, and 8.

Sept. 19, 2012: On p. 7, I altered the definition of 又は. It can't mean "and/or," so I deleted that. Also, I revised the photo caption on p. 13. The 4th line of the sign did not have a 及び ... 又は structure, as I had indicated. The 及び is part of the name of the law.