Re: [Lingo] Pronounciation from kanji: 下手 （へた）

[steven smith <sjs@example.com>]

Jim Breen wrote:
> On 08/02/2008, steven smith <sjs@example.com> wrote:
>> In general for words with compound kanji, the word usually
>> takes its pronunciation from the kanji's 音読み, right?
> 
> Right for those cases where the reading is from the  音読み.
> However there are *many* words where the reading is from the
> 訓読み, quite a few mixed 音訓 words (e.g. 台所) and a lot of words
> where the reading of the word has nothing whatsover with the readings
> of the constituent kanji. Think about words like 今日 (きょう), 田舎,
> etc. etc. These irregular pronunciations are called things like 熟字訓
> and 義訓 depending on their category, but a lot of people call them
> "ateji', which they are not.
> 
>> What is going on with 下手?
> 
> See above.
> 
> Jim

What had me really confused was that へ was nowhere in the
readings for 下.  So this belongs to the third case where
"the reading of the word has nothing whatsoever with the
readings of the constituent kanji."

This is the first instance like this I'd noticed.  So to
take this a step further, if you know the on/kunyomi for the
kanji in a word and need to find its pronunciation, first
look at the onyomi, then the kunyomi, then the combinations
of on/kunyomi, then ...  punt?

Thanks
Steve S.