Sakura
๐ฏ๐ต Japanese ์ ์๋
โใใใซใกใฏ๏ผๆฅฝใใๅญฆใณใพใใใ๏ผโ
Predicting Japanese On-yomi from Chinese / Korean Sounds: The Final-Consonant Hack
Already know Chinese or Korean? You can predict Japanese on-yomi readings ~80% of the time from the final consonant of the source pronunciation. Sakura unpacks the K, L, N pattern.
Hi everyone! Sakura here ๐ธ
If you grew up reading Chinese or Korean (or studied either as a language), you have a cheat code for Japanese kanji on-yomi readings. The trick: the final consonant of the Korean/Chinese pronunciation predicts how the Japanese reading ends, ~80% of the time.
Let me show you the patterns. (Note: this guide leans on Korean Sino-Japanese as the comparison set since Korean's final consonants are particularly informative.)
1๏ธโฃ Korean -K โ Japanese -ku / -ki
Korean final ใฑ (k) maps to Japanese ใ** (most common) or ใ** (sometimes).
Why: Japanese can't end syllables in a consonant, so it tacks on u** (or i** for some characters).
๐ -ใฑ โ -ku/-ki examples
| Korean reading | Japanese | Word |
|---|---|---|
| ํ | ๅญฆ | ๅญฆ็ (student) |
| ์ | ้ฃ | ้ฃไบ (meal) |
| ๊ตญ | ๅฝ | ้ๅฝ (Korea) |
| ์ | ็ | ็ฎ็ (purpose) |
| ์ญ | ้ง | ๆฑไบฌ้ง (Tokyo Station) |
๐ก Tip: ใ is the default. ใ shows up for certain characters where the vowel was 'i'-flavored.
2๏ธโฃ Korean -L โ Japanese -tsu / -chi
This is the most surprising rule for new learners. Korean final ใน (l/r) becomes Japanese ใค** or ใก**.
Why: in classical Chinese, those characters ended in a stop sound that got rendered as -t in some dialects โ eventually ใค in Japanese.
๐ -ใน โ -tsu/-chi examples
| Korean | Japanese | Word |
|---|---|---|
| ๋ฐ | ็บ | ๅบ็บ (departure) |
| ์ค | ๅฎ | ็พๅฎ (reality) |
| ๊ฒฐ | ็ต | ็ตๅฑ (in the end) |
| ์ค | ๅคฑ | ๅคฑๆ (failure) |
| ์ผ | ๆฅ | ๆฏๆฅ (every day) |
| ์ผ | ไธ | ไธ็ช (#1) |
โ ๏ธ Bonus: When the next character starts with k/s/p/t, the -tsu often collapses into ไฟ้ณ ใฃ. So ็ต (ใใค) + ๅฑ (ใใใ) โ ใใฃใใใ (with small ใฃ).
3๏ธโฃ Korean -N โ Japanese -n (ใ)
The cleanest rule. Korean final ใด (n) โ Japanese ใ. No vowel added because Japanese DOES allow syllable-final n.
๐ -ใด โ -ใ examples
| Korean | Japanese | Word |
|---|---|---|
| ์ | ๅฎ | ๅฎๅ จ (safe) |
| ์ | ๅ จ | ๅ จ้จ (all) |
| ์ | ๆฐ | ๆฐ่ (newspaper) |
| ๊ด | ่ฆณ | ่ฆณๅ (sightseeing) |
4๏ธโฃ Korean -M / -NG โ Japanese -n (ใ)
Korean ใ (m) and ใ (ng) both end up as Japanese ใ.
๐ -ใ / -ใ โ -ใ
| Korean | Japanese | Word |
|---|---|---|
| ์ | ้ณ | ้ณๆฅฝ (music) |
| ๊ฐ | ๅผท | ๅผทๅ (strong) |
โ ๏ธ A few exceptions
- Korean -p sometimes maps to Japanese -tsu or -u. ๅญฆ็ฟ (ํ์ต) โ ใใใใ ใ.
- Some words keep an extra vowel that doesn't follow strict rules โ ๅ (๋ ฅ) โ ใใใ not ใใ.
- Single-character readings are most reliable; long compounds sometimes shift due to phonotactics.
๐ Quick cheat sheet
Korean final Japanese final Examples -ใฑ (k) -ใ / -ใ ๅญฆ, ๅฝ, ้ง -ใน (l) -ใค / -ใก ็บ, ๅฎ, ๆฅ -ใด (n) -ใ ๅฎ, ๆฐ, ๅ จ -ใ (m) -ใ ้ณ -ใ (ng) -ใ ๅผท
โจ Sakura's recap
- Korean -K โ Japanese -ku/-ki (default ku).
- Korean -L โ Japanese -tsu/-chi (most surprising rule).
- Korean -N / -M / -NG โ Japanese -n (ใ) (no vowel added).
- -tsu often collapses into small ใฃ before k/s/p/t.
- This isn't 100% โ about 80% โ but a huge head start.
If you know Korean Sino-vocabulary, you've quietly already learned the bones of Japanese on-yomi. ๐ธ
ํด์ฆ
์ดํด๋๋ฅผ ํ ์คํธํด ๋ณด์ธ์
๋ก๊ทธ์ธํ๊ณ ํด์ฆ๋ฅผ ํ์ด๋ณด์ธ์