I was reading japanese wikipedia page for index finger, and came accross the word 外側. Trying to remember the readings for these kanji, I checked with yomi-chan, just to notice the first definition suggested to be written in kunyomi readings そとがわ. The second definition shows the readings in onyomi, がいそく, but thats pretty much the only difference, since the list of english translations is identical between these two.
So my question is, in general, how often these kunyomi-read kanji compound words have onyomi versions, and does it matter if I use onyomi readings to read them? Is it understandable or widely used to go with onyomis, since I’d prefer not bothering with more exceptions to remember. (Until I might pick them up naturally)
2 comments
there’s no single rule for which is more common, it’s on a per-word basis. if the dictionary has a primary pronunciation, use that. there’s tons of these, like 赤色＝あかいろ＝せきしょく both are valid but せきしょく is way less common.
It gets even more complicated because there are words like 重箱 that are On-Kun, and words like 手順 that are Kun-On. These are relatively rare cases and I don’t think they have more than one reading.