音読み and 訓読み With No Words Associated


Disclaimer: I’m a beginning student. On a number of occasions I have noticed
that kanji listed at Jisho.org may have an 音読み or 訓読み for which Jisho lists no
associated word. For example, 号 is listed as having the 訓読み ⎡さけぶ⎦, but Jisho
does not list any word pronounced that way and using the kanji 号. Why?

The question isn’t only curiosity; vocabulary with a kanji’s different
readings make it easier to remember the readings. And please understand that
my question uses 号 as one example; I'm hoping for a broader explanation.




When something like this happens, you're probably encountering a rare reading
that's not worth learning at all. For what it's worth, as a native Japanese
speaker, I wasn't aware that 号 could be read that way (I only knew 叫ぶ as the
kanji for さけぶ "to scream").

Kanji readings, especially kun-readings, were not very standardized in the
past, and you may come across many obsolete kun-readings while reading older
materials. According to [this kanji quiz](https://salon.mainichi-
kotoba.jp/archives/1791), 号ぶ was used at least in works of [Natsume
Soseki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natsume_S%C5%8Dseki) (1867-1916). It's a
dictionary's job to include such rare words and readings, but it often fails
to tell you which are common and which are not. Even a large dictionary does
not cover all rare readings, anyway. If you're still a beginner, you should
not pay too much attention to kanji and readings outside the jōyō kanji list.

See also: [Why do dictionaries differ so much in terms of spelling and is
there an established standard for how a word should be written in contemporary
text?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/98734/5010)




When something like this happens, you're probably encountering a rare reading
that's not worth learning at all. For what it's worth, as a native Japanese
speaker, I wasn't aware that 号 could be read that way (I only knew 叫ぶ as the
kanji for さけぶ "to scream").

Kanji readings, especially kun-readings, were not very standardized in the
past, and you may come across many obsolete kun-readings while reading older
materials. According to [this kanji quiz](https://salon.mainichi-
kotoba.jp/archives/1791), 号ぶ was used at least in works of [Natsume
Soseki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natsume_S%C5%8Dseki) (1867-1916). It's a
dictionary's job to include such rare words and readings, but it often fails
to tell you which are common and which are not. Even a large dictionary does
not cover all rare readings, anyway. If you're still a beginner, you should
not pay too much attention to kanji and readings outside the jōyō kanji list.

See also: [Why do dictionaries differ so much in terms of spelling and is
there an established standard for how a word should be written in contemporary
text?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/98734/5010)

