On’yomi

In this post let’s talk about on’yomi. On’yomi are one-half of the way to read Kanji so they are very important. Let’s get into it!

(By the way, I asked how you would write the word on’yomi in Hiragana back in this post. The answer is おんよみ).

What Are On’yomi?

We have talked about how Kanji came to Japan from China. In China they had their own readings and meanings. Many of them changed readings when they arrived in Japan. Obviously Chinese and Japanese pronunciation are very different. In this post let’s talk about on’yomi.

When Will You See/Hear On’yomi?

You will most often see / hear on’yomi in Kanji compounds. These are words made up of 2 or more Kanji put together. Here are 2 Kanji entries from Kanjipedia. Notice their on’yomi readings (marked by the Kanji 音).

When you put these 2 Kanji together, you get the word 完了, which means “completion” or “conclusion”. To read this word, you would use their on’yomi readings and get かんりょう.

2 or more Kanji put together doesn’t always mean that you should use on’yomi, but there is a tendency, so keep a flexible mindset as you learn more and more vocabulary.

Kanji Parts/Components

Take a look at these 3 Kanji:

青　静　精

With our basic knowledge of radicals, it would be a good guess that 青 is the radical of these 3 Kanji. If we go to our trusty Kanjipedia and look it up*, this is what we find:

So we see that the two black characters on the left are radicals (called あお). However, only 2 out of 3 of our Kanji have あお as their radical. What about the third Kanji (精)??

Well it turns out that the radical for our third Kanji is actually the left part (the 米 part)! Sometimes what you think is the radical may end up just being a part/component of the Kanji. Be careful!

Phonetic Parts/Components

Why am I talking about these Kanji parts? Well there is GOOD NEWS: Sometimes, Kanji that have a common part/component may have the same on’yomi! Let’s look at 7 different Kanji that all have the あお part/component:

青　静　精　清　晴　情　請

As it turns out, we should thank the Kanji gods because all 7 of those Kanji have the same on’yomi, which is せい! Here is a more detailed chart:

This means that 青 is called a common phonetic component of those 7 Kanji. A common phonetic component causes a group of Kanji to sometimes have a common (on’yomi) reading. This can sometimes be a big help when you see Kanji that you don’t know.

Now, there are two things I have to point out. (1) The radical of a Kanji is NOT always the part/component on the left-hand side. It just happened to work out that way for these 7 Kanji. (2) ALL Kanji that have a common phonetic component do not automatically have the same reading.

However, there is a chance! If you take a guess and read any of those Kanji as せい, you will at least have a chance at getting it right. And if you get it wrong, someone will hopefully correct you (they might correct you outright, or they may indirectly correct you by saying the correct reading out loud). Either way, pay attention. I can also tell you this: Sometimes the best way to remember something is by remembering that you made a mistake with it!

Conclusion

There you have it! In the next post we’ll talk about the other readings of Kanji – kun’yomi. We’re almost at the end of the Kanji section, so 頑張って! ( that means “keep going!”)

*How do you look for a radical on Kanjipedia or on your smartphone?? I’m glad you asked, the answer is here.