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Transliteration. Rōmaji. Cyrillization. v. t. e. On'yomi (音読み, [oɰ̃jomi], lit. "sound (-based) reading"), or the Sino-Japanese reading, is the reading of a kanji based on the historical Chinese pronunciation of the character. A single kanji might have multiple on'yomi pronunciations, reflecting the Chinese pronunciations of different ...
- First, Some History
- Two Kanji Readings For The Price of One
- Single Reading Exceptions
- Why Are There So Many Kanji Readings?
- Romance of The Three Language Shifts
- Multiple Kun'yomi Readings
- How Can I Know The Reading?
- How to Learn Kanji Readings
- Next Steps to Learning Kanji
What we know today as "kanji" originated in China (they call it hànzì). These hànzì characters made their way through the Korean Peninsula, then hopped over to Japan mostly via Classical Chinese religious texts. Japan was sooOOOooo in love with China at the time they adopted the Chinese writing system and applied it to their own language. Taking th...
Thanks to this adoption of characters and readings, almost all kanji have at leastone on'yomi (Chinese origin) and one kun'yomi (Japanese origin) reading. So if you want to easily read Japanese you'll need to know them both. Here are some examples of kanji where both readings are commonly used: Note: Sometimes you'll see on'yomi readings written in...
Although most kanji have both an on'yomi and kun'yomi reading, there are exceptions. There are kanji that only have one or the other. Kanji that only have an on'yomi reading are usually for things that either: 1. Do not have a single, unified term (in Japanese), and thus took the Chinese reading for clarity, or… 2. Were ideas or concepts that didn'...
Now that you know about Chinese and Japanese readings, everything should be cake right? Well, not exactly. Let's take a step back. We know kanji came over from China via Korea, but history spans a long, long time. And if you know anything about Chinese history (or if you've played Dynasty Warriors), you know that the seat of power in China was pret...
There were three major reading adoption periods in the history of the Japanese language: 1. Go-on 呉音 (4–6th century):The Wu Dynasty pronunciation 2. Kan-on 漢音 (7–9th century):The Han Dynasty pronunciation 3. Tō-on 唐音 (1185–1573):The "Chinese" pronunciation In pretty much every case, these characters and their readings were brought over by scholars ...
Just because kun'yomi readings originated in Japan, you may start out thinking there is only one kun'yomi per kanji, but it isn't that simple. There can be multiple kun'yomi readings for one kanji, just like there can be multiple on'yomi readings, but the reasons are slightly different. In Japan, before there was writing, spoken language still exis...
Now you know everything about the why and the where, but now it's time to cover the how. Howexactly do you know which reading is being used? The general rules are fairly simple, but with every language there are exceptions. So, let's start by focusing on those patterns. This will help you identify the correct reading of a kanji, mostof the time. Th...
Now that you know the basics patterns, it's time to take a look at ways you can learn kanji readings. It's not easy, especially when one kanji can have so many (correct) ways of reading it. First, let's consider the traditional method for learning kanji readings. 1. Teacher tells you to learn the kanji readings, because they're going to be on the q...
Now you know where kanji came from (China), what their readings are (on'yomi and kun'yomi), and a bit about how and when to use them. But it's not over yet. Since language is fluid and old and complicated, there are still exceptions to rules everywhere. The best thing to do is use these rules as a first guess, then look up the answer to see if the ...
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For example the 行 kanji has on-yomi readings gō, gyō, and an. The most common form of on-yomi readings is Kan'on (漢音), which come from the pronunciation during the Chinese Tang Dynasty in the 7th to 9th centuries. Go'on (呉音) readings, common in Buddhist terminology such as gokuraku (極楽) "paradise", came to Japan during the fifth ...
Feb 6, 2024 · 訓読み (literally, “meaning reading”) is the Japanese reading of a kanji. Over the centuries, people connected Chinese characters to Japanese words and sounds. Kunyomi readings, unlike onyomi, focus on the meanings rather than the sounds of the Chinese characters. This adaptation allowed the Japanese to use the kanji system while ...
The historical and cultural significance of on’yomi and kun’yomi readings offers insights into the evolution of the Japanese language. For instance, learning that on’yomi readings have Chinese origins while kun’yomi readings are native to Japanese culture enhances your understanding of language development and cross-cultural influences. 5.
Feb 15, 2024 · Multiple Readings of Kanji. The multiple possible pronunciations a kanji can have are called “kanji readings.”. While we know the background of why these multiple readings exist, when trying to learn a new concept, it’s often useful to look at examples. Let’s delve into the 人 character, which means “person/people.”.
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What are kun'yomi readings?
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Where do on'yomi readings come from?
The kanji for “up” (上), for instance, has more than 15 potential readings if on-yomi, kun-yomi, and nanori readings are all counted; although before you panic it should be noted that many of these are rather uncommonly used and okurigana will sometimes let you know which reading is being used (see below).
