Background:
I was reading Beastars by Paru Itagaki to practice reading when I came along two terms I didn’t recognize. In the world there is 「ビースター」which is a public honor and title given to outstanding citizens. Paru expands on the concept by specifying there are two types, 「青獣ビースター」which is for students of prestigious schools, and 「壮獣ビースター」which is given to only a handful of those in the former. Although Paru provided furigana for the two terms I didn’t recognize or understand them and I couldn’t find them in any dictionary. Eventually I checked the fandom page, and found 「青獣」and「壮獣」translated as “Young” and “Sublime” respectively. I was honestly so confused and didn’t really understand how readers were supposed to gather those meanings without a lot of context. I’m pretty sure Paru Itagaki made the two prefixes up.
Questions:
1. How common is it to see made-up terms with kanji in Japanese literature and media?
2. Is there any method for readers to get the meaning of a made-up term with kanji besides context?
3. Is there any way readers can get the pronunciation of made-up terms without furigana? If so, how do they figure it out?
Thank you so much in advanced!
2 comments
1. Depends on the genre. More in fiction than in other genres.
2. You can accept them as they are and just take 青獣 as 青獣. It’s a made up term after all. Depending on how extreme the author went, they know that they have to explain the term or the reader will be confused. Although in this case it’s probably just taking them meaning of 青 ‘unripe’ ‘inexperienced’ as in 青年 and combines it with 獣. Depending on the word, if you have enough experience with kanji you can get a gist of why they are used. But in the end those are made up terms and as long as they are somewhat explained you should be able to follow the story they are used in. It’s not like you will need them outside of that story.If you look at other words using [壮](https://jisho.org/search/%E5%A3%AE%20%E3%81%9D%E3%81%86) you should see where the translation is coming from. So in this specific case, having enough experience with kanji can help you understand the meaning.
3. Feeling. Often with two kanji the on yomi is used, but that isn’t a strict rule and since it’s a made up term anyway the author can do what they want. In this case I mostly just stick with on yomi until a reading is given. As I havent read this series I would just go with せいじゅう and そうじゅう for those terms.
I have not read the manga, but I believe “青獣” is derived from “青年” and “壮獣” from “壮年”.