Japanese Abbreviated and Contracted Words - Patterns of Contraction

Patterns of Contraction

In contracted kanji words, the most common pattern of contraction is to take the first kanji of each word and put them together as a portmanteau.

There are also instances in which alternative readings of a particular kanji are used in the contraction. For example, Nagoya's main subway station, Nagoya Station, is referred to by locals as Meieki (名駅?), a contraction of "Nagoya-Eki" (名古屋駅?), in which the alternative reading of 'Na' (名), the first character in "Nagoya", is used.

In loanwords and names, the most common pattern is to take the first two morae (or kana) of each of the two words, and combine them forming a new, single word. For example "family restaurant" or famirī resutoran becomes famiresu.

Yōon sounds, sounds represented using a kana ending in i and a small ya, yu or yo kana, such as kyo count as one mora. Japanese long vowels count as two morae, and may disappear (the same can be said for the sokuon, or small tsu); Harry Potter, originally Harī Pottā, is contracted to Haripota, or otherwise be altered; actress Kyoko Fukada, Fukada Kyōko, becomes Fukakyon.

These abbreviated names are so common in Japan that many companies initiate abbreviations of the names of their own products. For example, the animated series Pretty Cure marketed itself under the four-character abbreviated name purikyua.