<http://jisho.org/word/%E5%92%BD%E5%96%89>  
<http://jisho.org/word/%E5%96%89>  

I came across 咽喉【のど】 while reading. Jisho doesn't have「のど」listed as a reading
of 咽喉, but it _does_ have it under 喉.

So now I'm wondering what the differences between 咽喉【のど】, 咽喉【いんこう】 and 喉【のど】
are, since both「のど」and「いんこう」are defined as "throat".

Does anyone know?
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word-choice wago-and-kango
Word Choice: 咽喉 vs. 喉
[咽喉]{いんこう} and [喉]{のど} are synonyms, but [咽喉]{いんこう} has a more limited usage,
meaning either the throat (larynx + pharynx) or a vital passage.

[喉]{のど} also means throat, but it has a more wider, colloquial usage.

For example, you can say 「[喉]{のど}が[渇]{かわ}く」 (to be thirsty, lit. the throat
becomes thirsty) but you can’t say 「[咽喉]{いんこう}が[渇]{かわ}く」

[喉]{のど} also means a (singing) voice, eg. のど自慢.

In this case, [咽喉]{のど} was probably used by the author to designate the actual
body part while at the same time remaining more colloquial in tone.
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「のど」 is the original Japanese word for "throat". It makes no difference if you
write it in kana or kanji as we already had this word when Japanese was only a
spoken language. "Nodo" is the word that is intuitive to the native speakers.

「咽喉{いんこう}」 is the "big" Sino-loanword. It sounds technical, formal, academic,
etc. just like many Sino-loanwords do. 「咽喉」 is never a "household" word.

「のど」 is the word we use to talk about a throat 99.99% of the time in our daily
life.

「咽喉」 is a medical term for us native speakers. Unless you are a doctor, the
only time you would utter this word would be when talking about
「耳鼻咽喉科{じびいんこうか}」 (an otolaryngologist's office, a.k.a. "an ear, nose and
throat specialist").

![enter image description
here](https://image.jimcdn.com/app/cms/image/transf/dimension=416x10000:format=jpg/path/s9dcaaaee927a9dbc/image/i7fb9414092fc73fb/version/1279016895/image.jpg)
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Please see the other answers for the difference between 咽喉【いんこう】 and 喉【のど】
(basically 咽喉 is a technical term, "laryngopharynx"). Mine is specifically
about 咽喉【のど】.

The official reading of 喉 is のど, and that of 咽喉 is いんこう. のど is not listed as a
reading of 咽喉, and it's not a mistake of jisho. None of the dictionaries I
checked suggest 咽喉 can be read as のど, and my IME doesn't convert のど to 咽喉,
either.

I think the usage of 咽喉【のど】 is more or less in the same vein as 未来【あす】,
希望【ゆめ】, 時間【とき】, etc., which is described in this question: [Why are some
lyrics' words written in kanji whose usual reading is not how it is
sung?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/198/5010) Sometimes novelists and
lyricists want a complicated look of _kango_ and a familiarity of _wago_ at
the same time. This is acceptable only in creative writing.

Or else, you may see a similar example in old novels, because [kanji readings
were not very standardized](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/26257/5010)
in those days anyway.
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answer