68918
Supposed I know some kanjis and their reading, and come across a word I don't
know yet that's made up from these kanjis, how do I determine the correct
reading?

Example:

```

    大好き - daisuki
    大きい - ookii
    社長 - shachou
    
    大社長 - Is it daishachou? Or ooshachou? Or even taishachou?
    
```

In general, what are the rules for reading a word you don't know? If there is
no exact rule, what would be the most likely reading?
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-06-18T11:04:33.163
68917
2019-06-18T11:29:10.333
30707
question
kanji readings
Determine the correct reading of a word made up from kanjis
Compound kanji-only words are often read with on-yomi, but not always, and
there are many irregular readings, too, e.g. 人 has quite enough different
readings.

So basically, you'll have to check the dictionary if you want to be sure.
Especially names are often impossible to know how to read even for natives;
common kanji like 町 in a place name can be either まち or ちょう, and you'll just
have to know case-by-case: [町 pronunciation
distribution](https://uub.jp/zat/machicho.html).

(大社長 is だいしゃちょう...)
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-06-18T11:29:10.333
68918
2019-06-18T11:29:10.333
29974
68917
answer