Interesting Kanji: 直

Lately, I've been seeing several kanji reappear with wildly different usages than those I had first associated with them.

Today's is 直.

I first learned this as part of 直す（なおす）, "to fix/mend".  This is not to be confused with 治す（なおす）, "to cure/heal", which is used for diseases and medical conditions.

直す is used for fixing inanimate objects (such as an umbrella, or a bridge).  It is also a useful verb-suffix denoting the "redo" of an action, generally with the intent of fixing the unsatisfactory outcome of the first iteration.  For example 読み直す ("re-read"), 書き直す ("rewrite"), etc.

Many of the other uses of 直 were already familiar to me, but I hadn't known them in written kanji form.

The first is ちょく , part of several compound kanji words:

Meaning "straight" (ie. geometry):

直線（ちょくせん）= straight line

直径（ちょっけい）= diameter

直角（ちょっかく）= perpendicular

Meaning "direct":

直接（ちょくせつ）= direct/immediate

直後（ちょくご） = immediately after

直感（ちょっかん）= intuition

直訳（ちょくやく）= direct (literal) translation

直流（ちょくりゅう）= direct current (electrical term)

直列（ちょくれつ）= connected in series (electrical term)

Meaning "honest":

実直（じっちょく）= honest/upstanding

愚直（ぐちょく）= overly honest "to a fault"

Then we have other pronunciations as well; these usages seem to match up with the above general meanings:

直に（じきに）= at once, soon

直ちに（ただちに）= at once, immediately

直ぐに（すぐに）= at once, immediately

正直な（しょうじきな）= honest, frank

素直な（すなおな）= docile, obedient; honest, frank

I was really struck by how many different pronunciations there are for this kanji, and how there are very common words to represent each of the pronunciations.  But then, kanji is a subject which will keep revealing these types of connections, many years into your studies.