Sections
Kotoba (言葉): what it means in anime
言葉
ことば · kotoba · language; dialect JLPT N5
Kotoba means "word", "words" or "language". It is what Violet Evergarden learns to understand and what Hunter x Hunter's characters doubt: 言葉にできない ("I can't put it into words").
Where you hear it 3 of 42 series
Lines from the Japanese subtitles of episodes 1–3 of each show. A translation is shown only when it clearly matches the line; counts are subtitle lines containing the word.
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Hunter x Hunter · 12 lines in episodes 1–3 · this one from episode 2
魔獣 キリコは 人の言葉も操れるんだThat Magical Beast, the Kiriko, uses human speech.
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Violet Evergarden · 12 lines in episodes 1–3 · this one from episode 2
突然 その言葉を口にしたのか
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Erased · 6 lines in episodes 1–3 · this one from episode 1
言葉ってさ 口に出して言ってるうちに
Usage and nuance
It is 言 (say) plus 葉 (leaf), the classical image of words as leaves on the tree of speech. Japanese uses it for a single word, for a phrase and for a language: 日本の言葉 is "the Japanese language".
Emotional lines lean on it: 言葉が出ない ("I'm speechless"), 最後の言葉 ("last words"), その言葉を信じる ("I'll trust those words").
単語 (tango) is a vocabulary word in the textbook sense, and 言語 (gengo) is language as a formal concept. 言葉 is the living, spoken thing.
Hear 言葉 in Hunter x Hunter12 lines in episodes 1–3 · tappable subtitles · free, no account