15009
I read that the kanji 金 ("gold") can be pronounced both as _kon_ and as _kin_.

When should it be pronounced _kon_ and when _kin_?  
Is there any rule about picking one or the other?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-03-23T18:42:12.913
15001
2016-02-11T08:53:53.017
2016-02-11T08:53:53.017
11849
1635
question
kanji pronunciation readings
金 pronunciation
The character 金 can refer the idea of gold, metal in general, or money. Most
commonly, it is read as かね (kane, kun-yomi) and キン (kin, on-yomi) when
occuring in compounds.

There is also the コン (kon, on-yomi) reading which you mention. As Zhen Lin has
pointed out, this is an older reading that is due to interaction between
Japanese and Middle Chinese. Compounds that use this reading are e.g.

> [黄金]{おうごん} - yellow gold
>
> [金色]{こんじき} - golden (colour, color)

However, the other two readings are far more common.

In general, for the purpose of learning Kanji, I'd suggest studying the more
frequent readings first (かね and キン in this case) and memorizing other ones on
demand when encountering a word containing them.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-03-23T19:17:24.833
15002
2014-03-24T01:11:29.073
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
-1
4669
15001
answer
The readings "kin" and "kon" are on-yomi pronunciations for 金. The "kon"
reading is the older one (go-on 呉音) and "kin" is newer (kan-on 漢音). They
ultimately stem from Middle Chinese /ki̯əm/; notice that 今 has the same on-
yomi pronunciations.

As a general pattern, go-on pronunciations are somewhat less common (relative
to kan-on) in everyday words and more usually found in words related to
Buddhism. (But that is not to say Buddhist words only use go-on either.) In
the case of 金, the kan-on pronunciation is more common (among the two on-yomi
pronunciations) by far. You will simply have to memorise the exceptions.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-03-23T23:35:08.437
15009
2014-03-23T23:35:08.437
578
15001
answer