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40 votes
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Does the on'yomi of 輪 (リン) have any relation to the English "ring", or is it a coincidence?

Is there an etymological connection between 輪{リン} as in 車輪{しゃりん} and "ring" in English? Or is this a false cognate? There are a few things we have to look at to answer this. Derivation of different ...
Eiríkr Útlendi's user avatar
19 votes

Do we really need to remember the kunyomi and onyomi reading of each kanji?

Adding to what others said, in my opinion you shouldn't think of it as memorizing all the readings for every kanji, abstractly. You should think of it as learning Japanese words (which you have to ...
melissa_boiko's user avatar
14 votes

Can a Japanese word combine both on'yomi and kun'yomi characters?

The answer is yes. There are "重箱読み (ju-bako-yomi)" and "湯桶読み (yu-tou-yomi)" in Japanese vocabulary (in 2 kanji words only). 重箱 is read as Ju-bako. "Ju" is on'yomi and &...
sii's user avatar
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10 votes
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Why 東南西北 is read トンナンシャーペー in this lyrics?

とん・なん・しゃー・ぺー are unique readings of 東・南・西・北, respectively, used only by Japanese Mahjong players. I personally don't play Mahjong, but these unique readings are known to Japanese populations. Compared ...
naruto's user avatar
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10 votes
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Why do onyomis have so many extra syllables?

Short simple explanation Middle and Old Chinese had lots of final consonants. Modern Mandarin lost many of these, but Cantonese still has many final consonants. Japanese phonology does not allow ...
Eiríkr Útlendi's user avatar
10 votes
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Do we really need to remember the kunyomi and onyomi reading of each kanji?

Studying Kanji can easily become one of the most overwhelming challenges of studying Japanese. Even people who speak the language decently have difficulty reading and writing Kanji. As you have no ...
ajsmart's user avatar
  • 7,109
10 votes

Do we really need to remember the kunyomi and onyomi reading of each kanji?

I believe the best way to remember kanji is by seeing how they are used in words because this is how you will have to read them. I use Wanikani by Tofugu myself, and have found that the readings, ...
knowledge_is_power's user avatar
8 votes
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What is the phonetic component of 斜?

The kanji has changed its sound long before importation into Japanese. 「[斜]{しゃ}」 (Zhengzhang OC: /*lja/, to scoop/ladle) is comprised of semantic 「斗」 (picture of a ladle > unit of measure for liquids)...
dROOOze's user avatar
  • 9,165
8 votes

人 - on'yomi ニン or ジン rule of thumb

人 following a place name is read as じん: 関西人, 韓国人, 宇宙人 人 following the name of a field or a social group is read as じん: 芸能人, 業界人, 社会人 人 following a number is read as にん: 三人, 五人 人 following a suru-verb ...
naruto's user avatar
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7 votes
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音: when alone, what's the difference between おと, ね, おん?

おと is the word for "sound" in general. You'll be using this most of the time. ね is a literary and/or poetic expression that specifically refers to the pleasant sound from a musical ...
naruto's user avatar
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6 votes
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Using 音読み to write foreign names

For Western names, practically speaking, Katatana is best. If you're a citizen of a country where Kanji is used on official documents like your passport, say... China or Korea, then it is common to ...
sazarando's user avatar
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6 votes
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When is 事業 read as じぎょう and when as ことわざ

I'd like to add onto samhana's answer. Background about the term and reading The ことわざ reading for 事業 is valid, but it is also ancient. This reading is not used in modern Japanese. The ancient ことわざ ...
Eiríkr Útlendi's user avatar
5 votes
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Are there any words which use 'カ', the on-yomi of 何?

You are correct that there are many more common uses of the 訓読み なに or なん for 何 when compared with the words which use the 音読み カ. But here is one example: The word for 'geometry' is: 幾何学 (きかがく) - ...
kandyman's user avatar
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5 votes

Does the on'yomi of 輪 (リン) have any relation to the English "ring", or is it a coincidence?

Eirikr's answer has pretty conclusively demonstrated that "ring" meaning "round object" is unrelated, but I can't help but point out that there's a second meaning as well in English, namely "ring" as ...
lambshaanxy's user avatar
5 votes

How to read 艶肌 in 艶肌メイク

A quick google search reveals that ツヤ肌 is another common spelling for the word that you're looking for. Furthermore, on youtube you can find videos of youtubers enunciating the word as ツヤハダ (see for ...
kiyopi's user avatar
  • 333
5 votes
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売買の買とbuyの関係はあります?

ないです。 It's only a superficial coincidence in present-day pronunciation. The word corresponds to English buy is assumed to have been pronounced like *bugjaną //buɣ.jɑ.nɑ̃// in Proto-Germanic period ...
broccoli forest's user avatar
5 votes

売買の買とbuyの関係はあります?

From Online Etymology Dictionary buy (v.) Old English bycgan (past tense bohte) "to buy, pay for, acquire; redeem, ransom; procure; get done," from Proto-Germanic *bugjan (source also of ...
Earthliŋ's user avatar
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5 votes

Can a Japanese word combine both on'yomi and kun'yomi characters?

Sii's answer is a good one. To add a clarification, you asked: Can a Japanese word combine both on'yomi and kun'yomi characters? Japanese characters are neither on'yomi or kun'yomi. The characters ...
Eiríkr Útlendi's user avatar
5 votes

How to read 艶肌 in 艶肌メイク

Just to complete the answer from grove. 艶肌 is actually referenced by dictionaries as つやはだ. つやはだ (知恵蔵の解説) うるおい感、パール感、素肌感など様々な質感で演出するつややかな肌をいう。パール感のあるベースで明るくソフトなつや感を演出した肌のこと。かさつきがなく、...
永劫回帰's user avatar
  • 7,063
5 votes

Is the on'yomi kanji reading really needed if I'm going to Japan?

Is the on'yomi kanji reading really needed if I'm going to Japan? Depends. Are you going to Japan to sight-see, and you don't care to read signs, menus, media?   Then, no, you don't need to learn ...
Eiríkr Útlendi's user avatar
4 votes
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To think kanji: 思う (おもう): シ (shi) versus (shitau)

To answer your specific question, of " why does Google Translate..." -- it is a machine program, and thus it is only as good as the data fed into it, combined with the cleverness of its algorithms. ...
Eiríkr Útlendi's user avatar
4 votes

What is ateji? Are they different from on'yomi?

In simplest form, on'yomi and kun'yomi are ways of reading kanji that relate to the meaning of the character. So, for example, if 独 is referring to something being alone, then you're using either an ...
ConMan's user avatar
  • 1,602
3 votes

Both on'yomi and kun'yomi in a first name?

Strictly speaking, you can choose any reading for any kanji. (The only rule is that the reading has to be in hiragana. Well, and the rule that there are certain names or kanji that are off limits, ...
Earthliŋ's user avatar
  • 48.3k
3 votes
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Did I determine the pronunciation of 人口 correctly?

No, 人口 is read じんこう (look the word up in a dictionary). Some kanji have more than one on'yomi. This is due to the fact that they were imported from different areas and/or in different eras from China. ...
Earthliŋ's user avatar
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3 votes
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Why is 学 pronounced gaku and not kaku?

Aren't all H's in chinese transcribed as k in japanese? Unfortunately, the assumption is wrong. From the way of asking I guess you are familiar with any Southern dialect of Chinese or old school ...
broccoli forest's user avatar
2 votes

Did I determine the pronunciation of 人口 correctly?

You are correct in that 人口 is a word (meaning "population"), but it is pronounced じんこう. In this instance, both kanji are using on-yomi, which is commonly used in compounds that linguistically ...
SSTTLL's user avatar
  • 463
2 votes
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二百十日 is read as にひゃくとおか. What about 百十日 or 三百十日?

As your links say, both 二百十日 and 二百二十日 are the names of certain folk calendrical terms (210th and 220th days from 立春). Here, the date counter ~か is used to indicate a day in the calendar. Since there ...
broccoli forest's user avatar
2 votes
Accepted

How to pronounce noun compounds

来年夏 is pronounced "らいねんなつ". Words that are not followed by any hiragana are mostly pronounced with 音読み. However, in this case, 来年夏 is just a short form of 来年の夏, which means it is not an independent ...
Kana's user avatar
  • 325
2 votes
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In "盛りなる御代", how do you read "盛"

さかる is translated by jisho.org as to prosper; to flourish, and もる is to serve/to pile up. The definition you want there is definitely to prosper; to flourish since 御代 is defined as an imperial reign....
ajsmart's user avatar
  • 7,109

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