Components

Grammar detail: 音読み(おんよみ)and 訓読み(くんよみ)

音読み(おんよみ)and 訓読み(くんよみ)  on and kun readings of kanji
275 words
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Most Japanese kanji have at least two readings (some have many more). Each of those readings is either an
おんよ
音読
み or a
くんよ
訓読
み.

おんよ
音読

おんよみ literally means 'sound reading', and this type of reading originated as the Japanese pronunciation of the original Chinese word that contained the kanji when it was introduced into Japanese. In modern Japanese, おんよみ are almost exclusively used when the kanji is part of a
じゅくご
熟語
- a word that contains multiple kanji. So for example, in the word
かんじ
漢字
, 漢 is read as かん - that is an on yomi.
In the majority of cases, 熟語 are nouns so there is no need to modify the word itself based on how it is used.
Conventionally, dictionaries will use katakana for 音読み, and Kanshudo follows this convention in our dictionaries and intermediate lessons (beginner lessons use hiragana).

くんよ
訓読

くんよみ means 'teaching reading', and this term refers to the Japanese words that have been assigned to a kanji. In other words, if there was a native Japanese word that meant basically the same thing as the kanji's meaning in Chinese, that Japanese word was assigned to the kanji. Since the native Japanese word may be a part of speech which is inflected in Japanese, such as an adjective or verb, additional hiragana known as
おく
がな
仮名
are added to indicate the inflection.
While most on yomi are typically just a couple of syllables, there is very wide variability in the length of kun yomi - some may be read as a single syllable, where others may require 5 or more.
More information
See our comprehensive guide, How to read kanji.
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Words used in this grammar

0
on (Chinese) reading of kanji
(click the word for examples and links)
0
kun-yomi (Japanese reading of character)
(click the word for examples and links)
0
noun
1. kanji compound  (linguistics terminology)
2. idiom; idiomatic phrase
(click the word for examples and links)
0
noun
Chinese characters; kanji
(click the word for examples and links)

Kanji used in this grammar

オン   イン   sound   おと    ね    
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ドク   トク   トウ   よ to read   
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クン    teaching, precept; Japanese reading of a kanji   
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ジュク   come to fruition   うれる to come to fruition, to ripen   
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ゴ   かた to talk, relate   かたらう to talk together, chat   
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カン    Chinese   
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ジ   character   あざ village section   
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ソウ   おく to send, to escort   
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カ   ケ   かり temporary, provisional, tentative   
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メイ   ミョウ   な name   
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