Why is 近道 read/pronounced as ちかみち and not きんどう?
My first assumption is that the word originated before the kanji was introduced, but I don't have this sort of information on tap.
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Why do you think it should be read as きんどう when no such word exists?– aguijonazoFeb 23 at 16:25
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3きんどう would have been my first guess if I didn't know the word, but there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to choosing between onyomi and kunyomi. See this link: japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/43197/…– user3856370Feb 23 at 19:40
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@user3856370 - It’s totally understandable that your first guess is きんどう, but would you ask why it has to be ちかみち? A written form exists for an existing word, not the other way around.– aguijonazoFeb 24 at 1:23
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@aguijonazo I would not ask that. I wasn't justifying the question, merely why the OP might have thought it was pronounced きんどう. I can only guess that the OP has been taught that two-kanji compounds are always pronounced with onyomi, and maybe thinks this is a rare and interesting exception.– user3856370Feb 24 at 8:51
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1 Answer
Basic old words tend to be in kun-readings, while modern technical words tend to be in on-readings. Still, it's just a tendency. You ultimately have to remember the pronunciation of each word individually.
There are many words that end with 道 pronounced as みち:
- 脇道 (わきみち)
- 小道 (こみち)
- 獣道 (けものみち)
- 坂道 (さかみち)
- 山道 (やまみち; but see: What is the difference between 山道【さんどう】 and 山道【やまみち】?)
You can see these concepts are generally older than on-reading words such as 国道 (こくどう), 隧道 (ずいどう), 自動車道 (じどうしゃどう), 水道 (すいどう), and 赤道 (せきどう). I don't know if 近道 really existed before the arrival of kanji, but it's hard to imagine the old people were unfamiliar with the concept of shortcut.