Most common/appropriate reading of 執行


Recently I stumbled upon this passage:

[...] 最高執行責任者は変化の兆しを語る.

The dictionary reports four readings for 執行: しぎょう、しっこう、しゅうぎょう、 and しゅぎょう。

Moving on with the reading I also found the word 執行役員 that apparently is read
しっこうやくいん. This makes me think that even in the above case しっこう could be the
right choice.

Actually (instant edit) I just now found that 最高執行責任者 can be translated with
COO and it is indeed read as さいこうしっこうせきにんしゃ. Somehow I answered my question by
myself then, and しっこう seems a common reading.

Rather than deleting my post though, I got curious and I would like to know if
someone could provide words where actually one of the other readings is
used..otherwise why are they so many?

Also, let me to use this example in order to ask a more general question. I
guess we all agree that the 読み方 of some kanji sometimes follows no special
rules and you just "have to know it". However, is this really always the case?
Are there any tricks that at least might increase the chances of guessing the
correct/most appropriate reading? Thanks.




As for this word 執行, only しっこう is used in "execution; executive" sense, and
[all others belong to obsolete or traditional
words](http://www.weblio.jp/content/%E5%9F%B7%E8%A1%8C) (mainly for a clerical
rank that may be comparable to Catholic "archdeacon", but I don't really know
much about that).

> _I guess we all agree that the 読み方 of some kanji sometimes follows no
> special rules and you just "have to know it". However, is this really always
> the case? Are there any tricks that at least might increase the chances of
> guessing the correct/most appropriate reading?_

Unfortunately, it is. Or in other words, the idea of "a kanji has multiple
readings" is generally misleading; you should think it as "multiple words
share the same kanji". Kanji associated with multiple 音読み are just like French
doublets in English. English has been historically imported French vocabulary
at least twice, so that we have _chief_ and _chef_ , _catch_ and _chase_ , or
_ward_ and _guard_ as distinct words while they were of merely dialectal or
temporal difference in French. If French were using ideographs, these pairs
must have been written in same characters that pronounced in two different
ways in English. But why doesn't _chief_ mean _chef_ , or _catch_ mean _chase_
, and vice versa? There's no real accounting for it.

So, if there's any trick to guess the reading of kanji, it'd be learning the
meaning the reading suggests. When they have little semantic difference, try
to see 呉音/漢音 distinction, usually represents older/newer or daily/technical
context (but ultimately learning one by one). Basically, native speakers know
many many Japanese words so that they're able to tell the kanji reading, and I
don't think I can read a written word I've never come across in my previous
life 100% correctly.




As for this word 執行, only しっこう is used in "execution; executive" sense, and
[all others belong to obsolete or traditional
words](http://www.weblio.jp/content/%E5%9F%B7%E8%A1%8C) (mainly for a clerical
rank that may be comparable to Catholic "archdeacon", but I don't really know
much about that).

> _I guess we all agree that the 読み方 of some kanji sometimes follows no
> special rules and you just "have to know it". However, is this really always
> the case? Are there any tricks that at least might increase the chances of
> guessing the correct/most appropriate reading?_

Unfortunately, it is. Or in other words, the idea of "a kanji has multiple
readings" is generally misleading; you should think it as "multiple words
share the same kanji". Kanji associated with multiple 音読み are just like French
doublets in English. English has been historically imported French vocabulary
at least twice, so that we have _chief_ and _chef_ , _catch_ and _chase_ , or
_ward_ and _guard_ as distinct words while they were of merely dialectal or
temporal difference in French. If French were using ideographs, these pairs
must have been written in same characters that pronounced in two different
ways in English. But why doesn't _chief_ mean _chef_ , or _catch_ mean _chase_
, and vice versa? There's no real accounting for it.

So, if there's any trick to guess the reading of kanji, it'd be learning the
meaning the reading suggests. When they have little semantic difference, try
to see 呉音/漢音 distinction, usually represents older/newer or daily/technical
context (but ultimately learning one by one). Basically, native speakers know
many many Japanese words so that they're able to tell the kanji reading, and I
don't think I can read a written word I've never come across in my previous
life 100% correctly.

