Vocabs: Around the desk – Part 1

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Hi! A new series of vocabs coming up! It’ll be a list of things you might see around your desk. At least… It’s the stuff I have around on my very messy desk. Here goes, the first series of 10 words.

机 (つくえ, tsukue) – desk

椅子 (す, isu) – chair, stool

ペン (pen) – pen

シャープペンシル (shaapopenshiru) – mechanical pencil
Also abbreviated as シャーペン (shaapen)

鉛筆 (えんぴつ, enpitsu) – pencil

定規 (じょうぎ, jiougi) – (measuring) ruler

修正テープ (しゅうせいテープ, shuuseiteepo) – correction tape

修正液 (しゅうせいえき, shuuseieki) – correction fluid; correcting fluid; white out; Wite-out; Liquid Paper; Tipp-Ex
Also sometimes called ホワイト (howaito), or literally, white.

筆箱 (ふでばこ, fudehako) – pencil box
A 筆 is a writing brush, while 箱 means box. So it literally means ‘writing brush/instrument box’.

筆入れ (ふでいれ, fudeire) – pencil case; pen case; writing case; brush case
The verb 入れる means to insert/put in (amongst a host of other definitions). The noun 入れ is a container/receptacle. Together with the kanji in front mentioned earlier, you have ‘something to put your writing brush/instruments into’. AKA, a pencil case. Just like how we call it a ‘pencil’ case even when these days most people would be carrying around pens or mechanical pencils, the Japanese refers to the writing brush as used in the olden days for calligraphy.

That’s all for now! Definitions are from jisho.org.