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I think Japanese is more interesting than that; while they are pronounced the same, mother's side aunt and uncle and father's side aunt and uncle are written differently.


That's because the writing was imported from Chinese, with the indigenous Japanese labels slapped on top.

This is quite common even for basic words, eg 日 "sun" vs 火 "fire" both read hi, or 早い "early" vs 速い "fast" both hayai.


Is that not interesting?


It is! But now you know why it's that way.


I already did, thank you :) but yes, thanks for explaining to everyone else.




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