A List of Japanese Words with Irregular/Special Kanji Readings

As you may know, there are many Japanese kanji words that have special and irregular readings. Usually, these are the words of Japanese origin（和語, わご）, where their kanji characters are assigned to them later when the characters were introduced from China, explaining why their readings are very different from standard ones. This article introduces such words with special readings so that you don’t get confused by them!

Table of Contents

Words Related to People

大人 (おとな): an adult

乙女 (おとめ): a pure girl

(ex) 恋(こい)する乙女: a pure girl in love

老若男女 (ろうにゃくなんにょ)

everyone (including the young, old, male, female)

(ex) ゴルフは老若男女が楽(たの)しめるスポーツだ

= Golf is a sport that everyone, including the young, old, male, female, can enjoy playing.

素人 (しろうと)： amateur, non-expert, ordinary people

(ex) 素人にもわかるように説明(せつめい)して

Please explain in a way amateurs/non-experts can understand

玄人 (くろうと): professional, expert (an antonym of 素人)

迷子 (まいご): a lost child

(cf) 迷子になる: get lost

他人 (たにん or ひと): others, someone else

(cf) 他人事 (ひとごと): someone else’s business (something you don’t care much)

博士 (はくし or はかせ): PhD, Dr., a smart person

Words Including Numbers

二十歳 (にじゅっさい or はたち): 20 years old

(ex) 日本ではお酒(さけ)が飲(の)めるのは二十歳になってからです

In Japan, it is after 20 years old that you can drink alcohol.

三十路（みそじ）: 30 years old

七夕 (たなばた): Tanabata (an annual festival on 7/7)

八百屋 (やおや): Fruit and vegetable shop

八百長 (やおちょう): match-fixing

= a match where one player loses on purpose to obtain advantage (esp. money) for oneself

十八番 (じゅうはちばん or おはこ)

十八番 has two meanings:

one’s forte/adept skills
songs you sing very well at karaoke

Learn more (example sentences, its origin and pronunciation) at my previous post: 十八番 (ohako/jūhachiban): ‘Your Best Song to Sing at Karaoke’ in Japanese

Days in the Past or Future

一昨年 (おととし): two years ago

昨日 (きのう): yesterday

一昨日 (おととい or おとつい): a day before yesterday

明日 (あした): tomorrow

明後日 (あさって): a day after tomorrow

明々後日 (しあさって): two days after tomorrow

(cf) やのあさって (rarely used): there days after tomorrow

Learn more words at my previous post: Ashita, Asatte, Shiasatte, Yanoasatte: 13 Japanese Words Describing Dates

Days of a Month

一日 (ついたち): 1st

二日 (ふつか): 2nd

三日 (みっか): 3rd

四日 (よっか): 4th

五日 (いつか): 5th

六日 (むいか): 6th

七日 (なのか): 7th

八日 (ようか): 8th

九日 (ここのか): 9th

十日 (とおか): 10th

二十日 (はつか): 20th

Weather

梅雨（ばいう, つゆ）: Japanese rainy season in June-July

五月雨 (さみだれ): rain in May

吹雪 (ふぶき): blizzard (also used in Pokémon’s move)

日和 (ひより, びより): ideal weather for doing something outside

(ex) 今日は野球(やきゅう)日和(びより)だなー

Today, it’s such a wonderful weather to play baseball!

Adjectives

美味（おい）しい: delicious, tasty

美味（うま）い: delicious, tasty

* うまい is also written as “旨（うま）い”, or in hiragana

不味（まず）い: taste bad

可笑（おか）しい: funny, weird

Other Common Words

田舎 (いなか): a countryside

お土産 (みやげ): a souvenir

浴衣 (ゆかた): yukata

台詞 (せりふ): a line (in a play, movie, etc)

大和 (やまと): Japanese (大和言葉(ことば)= Japanese-origin words)

煙草 (たばこ): tobacco

惚気（のろけ） [verb: 惚気(のろけ)る]

= To talk about one’s lovey-dovey happy relationship in a way that sounds a bit showy and braggy
(cf) 惚気話(のろけばなし) = that kind of talks

(ex)

彼女が「ただ声が聞きたかった」ってさっき電話してきたんだよね
My girlfriend just called me and said, “I just wanted to listen to your voice”.
惚気るのやめてくれる？笑
Would you stop talking about your lovey-dovey relationship? lol

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Advanced (Even for Japanese People)

流石 (さすが): a word to use when you commend someone who has accomplished something great as expected

(ex) 流石、田中さんだね！ I knew you’d make it, Tanaka-san!

(* 流石 is usually written in hiragana)

凸凹（でこぼこ）: bumpy (surface)

老舗 (しにせ): a store that has a long history

美人局 (つつもたせ)

= honeytrap where a male victim is enticed by an attractive woman into getting lucky, and later her partner in crime shows up and blackmails him.