あてじ

Japanese

For pronunciation and definitions of あてじ – see the following entry.

【当て字】 [noun] The use of kanji chosen primarily for their phonetic (narrow sense) or semantic (broad sense) value to represent foreign or native Japanese words, or the kanji so used. [noun] A kanji character whose presence in a kanji compound is for euphony instead of meaning, e.g., 無(な) (na) in 水(み)無(な)月(づき) (minazuki). Alternative spellings 宛て字, 充て字, 当字, 宛字

(This term, あてじ, is the hiragana spelling of the above term.)