When looking up the kanji occurring as the first character in the word すき
(好き), I can see the following:

[![suki kanji dictionary
entry](https://i.stack.imgur.com/GatxG.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/GatxG.jpg)

I know quite a bit of Chinese, and am trying to make the best out of this
kanji section of my dictionary.

Can someone please explain the difference between the kana line above (first
line) and the kana line below (second line) in this entry, as well as what all
those commas and dots mean, and whether the order of characters between those
dots and commas bears any significance or is random?

Thank you for helping me read kana entries from my kanji dictionary.

Thanks.
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2016-10-27T11:47:04.097
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question
kanji dictionary
How to read kanji entry from Takoboto dictionary
I think the first line is the basic reading of the kanji by itself.

> コウ(kou)

The next line offer you the most common usages of the kanji.  
The kana before the dot is the reading of the kanji and the kana after the dot
is the kana that must go with the kanji to fit that reading. The comma simply
separate the different examples.

> 好む -> この ．む -> kono . mu
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answer
The first thing you need to be able to do is distinguish between katakana and
hiragana.

In most dictionaries, it is rather standard to use katakana to show the
_on'yomi_ (or, Chinese derived pronunciation) of the character. Hiragana is
used to show the _kun'yomi_ (native Japanese pronunciation). Characters can
have multiple _on'yomi_ and multiple _kun'yomi_ ; it all depends on the
history of the character and its usage. While one can formulate some general
rules of usage, it's mostly through context and familiarity that you'll
understand which pronunciation is used or expected---and, then there are odd-
ball cases where all rules fly out the window.

The コウ that you see there is the _on'yomi_ for 好, which is the pronunciation
used in many, but not all, compounds (it depends on the character). So, in 好機,
you'll use the _on'yomi_ to get こうき. Or in 好奇心 to read this as こうきしん. Not all
characters have an _on'yomi_ , but most do.

In the hiragana reading, the period marks where the _okurigana_ should begin
(I say _should_ because it can depend on who and when something was published
different rules may apply). _Okurigana_ are ideally aide the reader in
determining not only the inflection (such as for verbs) but distinguishing
when which _kun'yomi_ is intended. For example:

> この.む --> 好む

Or, if you see,

> お好みやき

The み is the inflected _okurigana_ and tells you that this is read

> おこのみやき

There are some words where you have to guess completely by context, e.g. 行く
has amongs other readings the _kun'yomi_ い.く and おこな.う which would be ok but
the past tenses are いった and おこなった respectively, both written usually as 行った.

So while 大阪で行{おこな}った大会 obviously means tournament that took place in Osaka and
not tournament, that walked in Osaka 大阪に行{い}った人 is a person that went to
Osaka。
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answer