Ateji
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In Japanese, Ateji (当て字 or 宛字 or あてじ) are kanji used phonetically to represent native or borrowed words. For example, sushi is often written with the ateji 寿司. The character 寿 means "one's natural life span" and 司 means "to administer", neither of which have anything to do with the food. Ateji as a means of representing loanwords have been largely superseded in modern Japanese by the use of katakana, although many ateji coined in earlier eras still linger on.
When using ateji to represent loanwords, the kanji are sometimes chosen for both their semantic and phonetic values. A stock example is 倶楽部 (kurabu) for "club", where the characters can be interpreted loosely in sequence as "together", "fun" and "place". Another example is 合羽 (kappa) for the Portuguese capa, a kind of raincoat. The characters can mean "wings coming together", as the pointed capa resembles a bird with wings folded together. (See also transliteration into Chinese characters)
Ateji should not be confused with kun'yomi (訓読み), Japanese reading, or native reading, where a kanji is assigned the native Japanese equivalent as a reading.de:Ateji fr:Ateji it:Ateji ja:当て字 pl:Ateji su:Ateji
