TsukiStone
If 雀 is "suzume", then where does 'zaku' come from?
I searched all over dictionaries as well as some books and I couldn't find the word "zaku" relating to sparrow or any bird for that matter. The only example is with the word "Suzaku", but is that the only one? Does the word "zaku" by itself not used to mean a sparrow? All I see is "suzume"...
2018年8月30日 19:10
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"Suzume" is the kun-reading for that kanji, while "zaku" sounds like an on-reading, but my dictionary only lists "jaku", "jan", "saku", and "shaku". If you haven't delved into kanji study yet, "kun-reading" (訓読み / kunyomi) refers to the Japanese-originating pronunciation for the character, while the "on-reading" (音読み / onyomi) refers to Chinese-derived pronunciations. Kunyomi are typically used in verbs, i-adjectives, and single-character nouns, while onyomi are typically used in 熟語 / jukugo (compound words). That's just a rough guide though, and there are plenty of exceptions.
The word for "sparrow" is 雀, pronounced すずめ, as it's a single character noun and so uses the kunyomi. None of the jukugo I can find for 雀 are very useful, so I wouldn't worry too much about learning the onyomi for this one.
Edit: By "suzaku", do you mean this word: 朱雀? As far as I can tell, this is a really obscure term referring to a constellation. You'll find that many such words don't often follow normal pronunciation conventions. And, as it so happens, the onyomi for 朱 is シュ, and not ス, so neither of the kanji in that word are using their typical readings.
The word for "sparrow" is 雀, pronounced すずめ, as it's a single character noun and so uses the kunyomi. None of the jukugo I can find for 雀 are very useful, so I wouldn't worry too much about learning the onyomi for this one.
Edit: By "suzaku", do you mean this word: 朱雀? As far as I can tell, this is a really obscure term referring to a constellation. You'll find that many such words don't often follow normal pronunciation conventions. And, as it so happens, the onyomi for 朱 is シュ, and not ス, so neither of the kanji in that word are using their typical readings.
2018年8月30日
朱雀 is a imaginary animal, red big 雀。
So しゅ is 朱、ざくpart is 雀。
雀、there are a way to read out "じゃく” and if the sound connection with other sound is not good,
sometimes these sounds have been changed into diferent way to read out.
Syujyaku is hard to say so I think it had been changed into しゅざく
It happenes often in Japanese.
2018年9月4日
Thank you Stephen, this was very informative. After you mentioning the " 朱" part of Suzaku being read as Shu, I think the word "zaku" is made for easier pronunciation purposes? Kind of like "senbonzakura" instead of "sakura"? It seems very complicated without set rules.
2018年8月31日
