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Confused about Multiple Readings for Kanji?

Posted in: Kanji by admin on August 20, 2010

Confused about Multiple Readings?
An avid user (thanks J.S!) of iStart Japanese! asked us recently why there are different readings for the kanji we show in the “Kanji-of-the-Day” section on Facebook.

For example, in yesterday’s Kanji-of-the-Day, for 白 (“white”), we wrote in the comments:
‘The most common readings of this kanji character are: “HAKU” 「ハク」 and “shiro” 「…しろ」.’

Most kanji have at least 2 readings: 1 on-yōmi (which we show in ALL-CAPS, like “HAKU”) and 1 kun-yōmi (which we show in lower-caps, like “shiro”). The kun-yōmi are the original Japanese readings, and the on-yōmi are the pronunciations imported from China over the centuries.

The word “shiro” is the original Japanese word for “white”. Usually, the kun-yōmi stand alone as words in a sentence. For example “Kami wa shiro desu. = The paper is white.”

Generally, the Chinese readings (the on-yōmi) occur in two-kanji combinations. For example: HAKU-JIN 【白人】. This means “white person, Caucasian”. Another example is HAKU-CHŌ 【白鳥】= “swan (white bird)”.

We hope this helps!

 

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