Kanji Compounds

Japanese Grammar 4

Course 4 · Chapter 9 · Kanji Compounds

🈴 Kanji Compounds and Word Formation — じゅくご

Most Japanese vocabulary above the beginner level is built from two-kanji compounds (熟語(じゅくご)). The system is regular enough that you can often read a word you have never seen and guess its meaning from the parts. This chapter explains the readings, the endings, and the handful of prefixes and suffixes that build whole families of words.

1. 音読み and 訓読み

2. Sound changes inside compounds

3. 送り仮名 (okurigana)

The kana written after a kanji show the verb or adjective ending and fix the reading. Compare:

So the okurigana are your best clue to which kun reading is meant. A kanji with no okurigana in a compound is usually read in on. A single kanji followed by る, い or な is almost always kun.

4. Prefixes

5. Suffixes

6. Reading a word you have not met

Step 1: look at the structure. Most two-kanji compounds fall into a few types:

Step 2: use the parts you know. Many kanji share a phonetic component, so one reading hints at another: 語, 悟 both carry ご; 校, 交, 効 all carry こう. This works often but not always.

Step 3: check the sound changes. If a reading seems off, expect voicing (が for か) or a doubled consonant (っ), as in section 2.

Step 4: confirm in a dictionary or on a device. A guess from the parts is a hypothesis; the dictionary gives the real reading, especially for names, which break the rules most.

🗣️ In Use — つかいかた

Word formation in everyday talk.

📋 Quick Reference

✍️ Practice — れんしゅう

Try each one, then click to check.