Question of the Week
Vol. 44

Q. How do you know when to use On-reading and Kun-reading?

A. Unfortunately there is no simple way to explain  when to use On-reading or Kun-reading. You need to memorize the pronunciation on an individual basis, one word at a time. However, here are some facts that are worth remembering. 

On-reading is usually used when the kanji is a part of a compound (two or more kanji characters are placed side by site). Kun-reading is used when the kanji is used on its own, either as a complete noun or as adjective stems and verb stems. This is not a hard rule, but at least you can make a better guess. 

Let's take a look at the kanji character for "水 (water)". The On-reading for the character is "sui" and the Kun-reading is "mizu." "水 (mizu)" is a word in its own right, meaning "water". The kanji compound "水曜日(Wednesday)" is read as "suiyoubi." Here are other examples.

"Kanji Land" lessons include both On-reading and Kun-reading and useful kanji compounds.

Vol. 43: What is On-reading and Kun-reading? 

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