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On'yomi (Japanese:音読み[1];[oɰ̃.jo.mi],[2]lit. 'sound reading') orondoku (音読[3];[on.do.kɯ][2]) is a way ofhomophonically readingkanji (Chinese characters) inJapanese. Theon (音;[oɴ],[2]lit. 'sounds') here are theapproximatedpronunciations, usingJapanese consonants and vowels, of historicalChinese words. In contrast, the "readings" acquired from thetranslations of those same Chinese words into Japanese are known askun'yomi.
A singlekanji might have multipleon'yomi pronunciations, reflecting the Chinese pronunciations from different time periods or regions.[4][5]On'yomi pronunciations are generally classified intogo-on,kan-on,tō-on andkan'yō-on, roughly based on when they were borrowed fromChinese during the peaks of theSinosphere.
Generally,on'yomi pronunciations are used for technical, compound words, which were mostly foreignloanwords fromAncient China; while the nativekun'yomi pronunciation is used for singular, simpler words.
On'yomi primarily occur in multi-kanji compound words (熟語,jukugo), many of which are the result of the adoption, along with the kanji themselves, of Chinese words for concepts that either did not exist in Japanese or could not be articulated as elegantly using native words. This borrowing process is often compared to theEnglish borrowings from Latin, Greek, and Norman French, since Chinese-borrowed terms are often more specialized, or considered to sound more erudite or formal, than their native counterparts (occupying a higherlinguistic register). The major exception to this rule isfamily names, in which the nativekun'yomi are usually used (thoughon'yomi are found in many personal names, especially men's names).
Kanji invented in Japan (kokuji) would not normally be expected to haveon'yomi, but there are exceptions, such as the character働 "to work", which has thekun'yomi "hatara(ku)" and theon'yomi "dō", and腺 "gland", which has only theon'yomi "sen"—in both cases these come from theon'yomi of the phonetic component, respectively動 "dō" and泉 "sen".
InChinese, most characters are associated with a single Chinese sound, though there are distinctliterary and colloquial readings. However, some homographs (多音字) such as行 (Mandarin:háng orxíng, Japanese:an, gō, gyō) have more than one reading in Chinese representing different meanings, which is reflected in the carryover to Japanese as well. Additionally, many Chinese syllables, especially those with anentering tone, did not fit the largely consonant-vowel (CV)phonotactics of classical Japanese. Thus moston'yomi are composed of twomorae (beats), the second of which is either a lengthening of the vowel in the first mora (toei,ō, orū), the voweli, or one of the syllablesku,ki,tsu,chi,fu (historically, later merged intoō andū), or moraicn, chosen for their approximation to the final consonants of Middle Chinese. It may be thatpalatalized consonants before vowels other thani developed in Japanese as a result of Chinese borrowings, as they are virtually unknown in words of native Japanese origin, but are common in Chinese.
Generally,on'yomi are classified into four types according to their region and time of origin:[4]
The most common form of readings is thekan-on one, and use of a non-kan-on reading in a word where thekan-on reading is well known is a common cause of reading mistakes or difficulty, such as inge-doku (解毒; detoxification, anti-poison) (go-on), where解 is usually instead read askai. Thego-on readings are especially common inBuddhist terminology such asgokuraku (極楽; paradise), as well as in some of the earliest loans, such as the Sino-Japanese numbers. Thetō-on readings occur in some later words, such asisu (椅子; chair),futon (布団; mattress), andandon (行灯; a kind of paper lantern). Thego-on,kan-on, andtō-on readings are generallycognate (with rare exceptions of homographs; see below), having a common origin inOld Chinese, and hence formlinguistic doublets or triplets, but they can differ significantly from each other and from modern Chinese pronunciation.
Ongana (音仮名)[6] are a type ofMan'yōgana (kanji that are usedphonemically and that predate modern kana) that make use of the kana'son'yomi. For example:
| Kanji | Meaning | Go-on | Kan-on | Tō-on | Kan'yō-on | Middle Chinese[7] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 明 | bright | myō | mei | (min) | — | mjang |
| 行 | go | gyō gō | kō kō | (an) | — | haengH |
| 極 | extreme | goku | kyoku | — | — | gik |
| 珠 | pearl | shu | shu | ju | (zu) | tsyu |
| 度 | degree | do | (to) | — | — | duH,dak |
| 輸 | transport | (shu) | (shu) | — | yu | syu |
| 雄 | masculine | — | — | — | yū | hjuwng |
| 熊 | bear | — | — | — | yū | hjuwng |
| 子 | child | shi | shi | su | — | tsiX |
| 清 | clear | shō | sei | (shin) | — | tshjeng |
| 京 | capital | kyō | kei | (kin) | — | kjaeng |
| 兵 | soldier | hyō | hei | — | — | pjaeng |
| 強 | strong | gō | kyō | — | — | gjangX |