I started learning japanese recently, and I looked back at the kanji I've learned, and I simply can't think of any kanji with an onyomi longer than 2 morae.
Is there really no kanji with an onyomi longer than 2 morae, and if so, why?
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十【じゅう】、上【じょう】、食【しょく】……– Zhen LinCommented Apr 27, 2015 at 18:01
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@ZhenLin The yoons modify the kana to the left, so じゅ kind of acts like a single character.– Alice RyhlCommented Apr 27, 2015 at 18:06
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1In terms of just kana, @ZhenLin is right. If we're talking syllables (or mora), then no, there is no 3-syllable kanji on-reading (at least in the jouyou list).– CatCommented Apr 27, 2015 at 18:07
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1I changed the question to ask about morae.– Alice RyhlCommented Apr 27, 2015 at 20:11
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2I'm pretty sure that's actually カイ and エ separately.– Zhen LinCommented Apr 27, 2015 at 21:37
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1 Answer
Recall that on-yomi are derived from the Chinese pronunciation of characters, which are (with few exceptions) monosyllabic. The basic structure of a syllable in Middle Chinese is as follows:
- An initial consonant
- A glide
- A vowel
- A final – either another glide or a consonant, but not both
For instance, 關 (resp. 怪, 脚) is kwæn (resp. kwai, kjak) in Middle Chinese and has the kan-on クヮン (resp. クヮイ, キャク), but there are no syllables like kwain. Thus there is no way a trimoraic on-yomi would arise.
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