Guidance 指導　しどう

指 = finger   導 = guide     指導　is a word from my last post and it means guidance. You can imagine a finger pointed in the right direction, guiding you down the right path.

Here is another use of the kanji 指.   指輪　(　ゆびわ　）= ring ( for your finger )                                 

Example: ダイヤの指輪 = diamond ring　                                                                                                              

輪　=  wheel, ring

浮き輪　( 　うきわ　)　means inner tube or floating ring.   浮　=  float    浮かぶ　(　うかぶ　）　means to float.

宇　is a kanji that shares the same sound, う　, with 浮.    宇宙　( うちゅう ) means universe or space.                   宇 = universe  and  宙　=  space. 

So now that a finger with a diamond ring guided us to an inner tube that we used to float all the way out into space, lets get back down to earth and look at the other kanji from guidance, 導.

I want to move on from 導, so lets look at 堂 ( hall ). It is a kanji that shares the same sound, どう , with 導.    食堂　( しょくどう ) means dining room, dining hall, or cafeteria.    
食　=  eat, food. 　食堂　a hall where you eat food.

A kanji that shares the same sound, しょく, with 食　is 植.  植　=  plant. 
植物　( しょくぶつ ) means plants or vegetation. 
That wonderful green stuff we eat in the 食堂 ( しょくどう ).

物　＝　thing

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I am studying for the  Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) level 2 that is  coming up next December. So I welcome any comments, questions, or suggestions, and since I am not a Japanese or English language expert and I welcome corrections for any of my mistakes in both languages.