The Japanese terms kibun and kimochi are lexically ambiguous words that can be understood in many ways depending on the context. Each of the words is a polyseme, a term with several different meanings, and in relation to each other they are quasi-synonyms. Some of their meanings are therefore similar or identical, but they are not always interchangeable. When we can and do interchange them, the meaning of the sentence might slightly change as well. According to JaSlo, kimochi is translated into Slovene as "občutek, razpoloženje," and kibun as "razpoloženje, počutje," but in practice the Japanese terms kibun and kimochi are often also used in different contexts than the Slovene terms občutek and razpoloženje. Both kibun and kimochi can be used to express a mental or a physical state of being. In addition, kibun can also express an external mood, and kimochi can also express emotion, belief, desire, intention, determination, a show of either gratitude, congratulations or condolences, and a slight change of state. The Slovene terms občutek and razpoloženje cover a smaller range of meanings than the Japanese terms kibun and kimochi, so in a context where either kibun or kimochi is used in Japanese, občutek or razpoloženje might not be used in Slovene. There are also examples in which we use občutek or razpoloženje in Slovene but not kibun or kimochi in Japanese. It is therefore important to examine specific examples to understand the Japanese words, as we cannot fully understand the range of their meanings only by memorizing the Slovene translation.
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