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Maybe a hard to understand question, but for example, I love the word 百日紅 (さるすべり) because it's the name of a red flower and uses some very poetic kanji (one hundred days of red) but opts instead for a reading that means a slipping monkey. I suppose I mean this in more of an interesting way than just gikun or ateji. Rather I'm looking for this total disconnect that 百日紅 seems to have, if that makes sense.

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  • You should clarify that you're not actually looking for gikun or ateji.
    – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams
    Oct 26, 2012 at 0:20
  • Can it also be read ひゃくじつこう?
    – silvermaple
    Oct 26, 2012 at 0:22
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    Although not a complete answer, this entry seems quite related to what you are looking for (along with some explanation of why such words exist): japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/6581/…
    – Dave
    Oct 26, 2012 at 3:54
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    geocities.co.jp/collegeLife-Labo/6084/jukujikun.htm
    – user1478
    Oct 26, 2012 at 5:29
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    If I am not mistaken, two names さるすべり and [百日紅]{ひゃくじつこう} both existed once, and somehow the kanji 百日紅 and reading さるすべり survived. (The reading ひゃくじつこう is not completely extinct, though.) This is how a 熟字訓 is typically made: a kanji notation and a native Japanese word for one notion were independently made, and later the native word is considered to be a reading of the kanji notation.
    – Tsuyoshi Ito
    Oct 26, 2012 at 15:27

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