on'yomi
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or is a way of homophonically reading kanji (Chinese characters) in Japanese. The here are the approximated , using Japanese consonants and vowels, of historical Chinese words. In contrast, the "readings" acquired from the of those same Chinese words into Japanese are known as ''kun'yomi''.
~7 min read
Encyclopedic overview
7 sectionsContents
- Usage
- Characteristics
- Classification
- ''Ongana''
- Examples
- See also
- References
or is a way of homophonically reading kanji (Chinese characters) in Japanese. The here are the approximated , using Japanese consonants and vowels, of historical Chinese words. In contrast, the "readings" acquired from the of those same Chinese words into Japanese are known as ''kun'yomi.
A single kanji might have multiple on'yomi pronunciations, reflecting the Chinese pronunciations from different time periods or regions. On'yomi pronunciations are generally classified into go-on, kan-on, tō-on and kan'yō-on, roughly based on when they were borrowed from Chinese during the peaks of the Sinosphere.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “on'yomi” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.