I've seen this symbol in various places, such as 「日々」, 「色々」, and 「人々」. What is it, and how does it affect the meaning and pronunciation of the word?
Answer
It's a repetition kanji or "ideographic iteration mark", it means that the kanji just before should be repeated. The pronunciation changes according to the kanji being repeated, but a lot of the time, the second kanji will be pronounced like the first one, but with a dakuten (hi->bi, to->do, ha->ba). It often makes a word mean "more than one of that thing". Here's some examples:
- 日々(ひび）: days, or every day
- 人々(ひとびと): people
- 色々(いろいろ): various
- 散々(さんざん): severe
- 昔々(むかしむかし): a long, long time ago
- 時々(ときどき): occasionally
- 早々(はやばや): very early
According to Wikipedia, it's called an odoriji (踊り字 ) "dancing mark" in Japanese. I've heard the name that Robusto mentions ("kurikaeshi") more often.
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