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I'm trying to figure out exactly when to read 時 as 〜どき or 〜じ, when used as a
suffix, as in for example 空腹時, 食事時, as well as this sentence from a game I'm
playing:

> タウンメンバーの加入時に最大HP+20%

大辞林 defines とき（どき） as

>
> （８）（「どき」の形で）名詞や動詞の連用形の下に付いて，それにふさわしい，それの盛んな，あるいはそういう状態の時間であることを表す。（ア）時刻。時間帯。「昼飯―」「会社の引け―」「たそがれ―」（イ）時節。季節。「花見―」「木(コ)の芽―」「梅雨(ツユ)―」（ウ）時機。機会。「書き入れ―」「売り―」「引き上げ―」

and defines じ as

> ■二■ （接尾） （１）名詞に付いて，「とき」「おり」などの意を表す。「空腹―」「革命―」「第二次世界大戦―」

But it seems like じ just refers back to とき. Is there a specific one you should
use for each word, or can you use both 〜どき and 〜じ for a single word depending
on the context?
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2021-06-18T00:06:24.323
87097
2021-06-18T09:00:19.503
41688
question
nuances readings suffixes
どき vs じ when using 〜時 as suffix
As a general rule, it is pronounced じ after an _on’yomi_ word and とき after a
_kun’yomi_ word. However, there are exceptions, and [食事時]{しょくじどき} is one of
them.

Curiously, 食事, despite being an _on’yomi_ word, also exceptionally tends to
take the politeness prefix お, rather than ご. I cannot explain why. I guess you
should memorize each exception.
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2021-06-18T01:09:54.343
87099
2021-06-18T01:09:54.343
43676
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answer
When the previous word is Hiragana, it tends to pronounce 'toki' or 'doki',
while the previous word is Kanji or followed by Kanji, it tends to 'ji'. The
exceptions like 「昼飯―」花見―」「木(コ)の芽―」「梅雨(ツユ)―」are the general time for everyone
like launch, dinner, or season, not the time only for the person who is
speaking or the related people for the speaker. These are almost idiomatic
expressions.  
It is my feeling as a Japanese.
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2021-06-18T09:00:19.503
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87097
answer