自粛 – What does Jishuku mean?
With the year 2020 and Covid-19, the life-style of many and the world, in general, has changed. Along with change comes new and old words to talk about the world. In Japanese, one of these words is 自粛. This word has existed before 2020 but became much more prevalent with the spread of the global pandemic.
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What does 自粛 mean?
自粛 means for someone to voluntarily refrain from doing something or behaving in a certain way. This word contains two Kanji. First, 自 which means self, and 粛 meaning to be quiet, solemn, respectful, or reverent.
Together, these two characters can translate from Japanese to English as several things:
- self-control
- self-imposed control
- self-restraint
- self-regulation
- self-control
- self-discipline
When do you say 自粛
We know already that 自粛 means refraining from doing something. So, when is it used? 自粛 is mostly used as a verb. To make it a verb you add it to the Japanese word to do which is する. This means it becomes 自粛する. You would say 自粛する to say you are refraining from doing some activity.
外出を自粛する
refrain from going out
The sentences above would describe the act of staying at home. In Japanese, you could translate Stay at Home as refraining from going out which would be 外出自粛 in Japanese.
