Nothing fancy in this lesson.

I just want to talk about this kanji:

深

This is the kanji for "deep."

I would tell you some cool mnemonics for this kanji, but I've never seen a really great one before. Note, however, that we have "water" (氵) on the left side and "tree" (木) on the bottom right. Describing the upper right quadrant ("legs" [儿] and "crown" [冖], if you do Heisig) is tricky if you're not deep into breaking down kanji for mnemonics.

This character shows up in the word "deep," which is an i-adjective:

深い（ふかい // deep）

That can be "deep" in the physical sense:

意外と深いから気を付けてね。
いがい　と　ふかい　から　きをつけて　ね。
It’s deeper than it looks, so be careful.
Literally: “unexpectedly / surprisingly (=unexpected + と) + deep + because (=から) + be careful (=spirit + を + stick to / attach [and]) + ね.”

Or that can be "deep" in the sense of something being "profound."

For example, let's say that (1) Steve Jobs is magically alive again, and (2) he's sitting on your living room couch repeating some of his old quotes.

You two have the following conversation...

Steve Jobs:
我々がすることと同じくらい、我々がしないことを私は誇りに思う。
われわれ　が　する　こと　と　おなじ　くらい、　われわれ　が　しない　こと　を　わたし　は　ほこり　に　おもう。
I’m as proud of what we don’t do as I am of what we do.
Literally: “we + が + do + thing + と + same + level / amount, + we + が + don’t do + thing + を + I + は + am proud of (=pride + に + think).”

You:
深い～。
ふかい～。
That’s deep.
Literally: “deep.”
Note: This sounds like a joke.

You promise to introduce me to Steve someday, but I know that deep down you never intend to, and it hurts my feelings.

---

I already mentioned that "deep" can be used in the physical sense, but you may hear it being used in ways that don't make much sense in English.

For example, instead of sitting "back" in a chair, you could tell someone to sit "deeply" in a chair:

もっと深く座って。
もっと　ふかく　すわって。
Sit back further in your chair.
Literally: “more + deeply + sit (and).”

When you sit "deeply" in a chair, there is no space between your back and the back of the chair. In other words, you're not slouching forward.

---

Much like in English, we can also breathe "deeply," as in this sentence:

息を深く吸ってください。
いき　を　ふかく　すって　ください。
Please take a deep breath.
Literally: “breath + を + deeply + breathe in / inhale (and) + please.”

---

Does the kanji 深 only show up in the word 深い？

No!

First, we see it attach to the end of words, such as the term 興味深い (きょうみぶかい // very interesting; of great interest).

興味（きょうみ // interest [in something]）
+
深い（ふかい // deep; profound）
=
興味深い（きょうみぶかい // very interesting; deeply interesting; of great interest）

Here's a sentence with it:

興味深いですね。
きょうみぶかい　です　ね。
That’s deeply interesting.
Literally: “very interesting + です + ね.
Note: Careful with this one. It's not used as much as we would say "very interesting" in English (which is why I wrote "deeply interesting" in the translation). You probably won't hear people saying it all that often... although I notice that my editor in Tokyo says it a lot, particularly in emails.

---

Oh and let's not forget about the onyomi of 深, which is しん.

We see it in words like 深海 (しんかい // deep sea):

深海の生き物は面白い。
しんかい　の　いきもの　は　おもしろい。
Deep-sea creatures are interesting.
Literally: “deep sea + の + living creatures + は + interesting / fun.”

---

There you have it.

No crazy grammar.

Just a single kanji in focus and a few sentences to go along with it. ^^

Hope you enjoyed this one.