Why are there multiple readings for kanji?

Because of the way they have been adopted into Japanese, a single kanji may be used to write one or more different words—or, in some cases, morphemes—and thus the same character may be pronounced in different ways. From the reader’s point of view, kanji are said to have one or more different “readings”.

How many kanji have multiple readings?

In fact, of the 2136 Jōyō kanji, only 8932 are typically only read in a single way – in other words, 1243 have multiple readings. 138 kanji are commonly read in more than three ways!

What is the difference between on-reading and kun-reading kanji?

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 and fast rule, but at least you can make a better guess.

Can a kanji have more than one meaning?

In addition to the variety of Chinese-derived readings, a kanji may have several native Japanese kun-yomi readings when a kanji used for more than one meaning. For example, 行 has two kun-yomi readings, iku and okonau. Different kun-yomi can usually be distinguished by kana placed after the kanji, called okurigana.

What are the kan’yō-on readings of kanji?

In addition, there are Kan’yō-on ( 慣用音) readings which are mistakes which became established. In addition to the variety of Chinese-derived readings, a kanji may have several native Japanese kun-yomi readings when a kanji used for more than one meaning. For example, 行 has two kun-yomi readings, iku and okonau.

How do you read the kanji for Wednesday?

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.”.