Thinking about kanji readings

24 Oct, 2026

The beginning student of the Japanese language is quickly told a few things about reading kanji:

• Most kanji have multiple readings
• These are divided into kun and on readings
• Kun readings are Japanese, on readings are Chinese
• Simple words are usually read with kun readings
• Compound words are usually read with on readings

It took me a frustratingly long time to fit all these together, because I couldn't understand how compound words are composed of a completely different set of syllables than the rest of the lexicon.

The inescapable conclusion seemed to be that words jump from one language to another when combined, and surely that can't be what happens?

Except... it kind of is.¹ It really is the case that two good old-fashioned, as Japanese as can be, Yamato kotoba words like 握 (nigi, grip) and 手 (te, hand) combine into 握手, pronounced akushu.

I found this concept to be fairly mind-blowing, and it surprised me that I never really saw it explained explicitly, at least not in beginner materials. I understood that in the past some people had travelled to China and brought back the writing system with them, but it wasn't immediately clear that they had brought back loads of words as well. It makes sense in retrospect: Japan didn't have a literature of its own, so when lots it suddenly became available, but written in a different language, it was bound to have an impact, in the same way that US popular culture has influenced language worldwide.

What may have added to my confusion is the fact that this is not a property of the writing system. Writing is the map, not the territory, and this phenomenon happens in the spoken language, no matter how you write it.

You know my method, Watson: is there anything similar in English that we can use to get a sense of how to think about this and make it seem less exotic?

I believe there is.

There is a phenomenon in English where nouns change into Latin in their adjectival form. For example, "tooth" becomes "dental". "Brain" becomes "cerebral". "Clock" becomes "horological". There are a lot of these (a lot of them seem to be medical terms for some reason.)

All languages are strange if you think about them hard enough.