words that have kanji and begin with kana


"この先生き残るには" is a riddle that highlights the problem of not having spaces
between words. But, I was able to read it pretty quickly. After blowing past
"先生", I read "き", and that stopped me in my tracks. Starting over, I felt the
only thing that could be done was to break between "先” and "生". And then I
could read it.

_These probably are the same question:_  
(-) Excepting "お" and "ご" when used as 美化語, can a word that has at least one
kanji also begin with a kana?  
(-) A kana, that is not one of the 助詞, placed between two kanji cannot be a
word break, right?




Sure, a word that has at least one kanji can begin with kana. Generally, they
come from combinations with independent words that are usually written in
kana, or they come from combinations with prefixes like お- or ご-, although
there are other prefixes that can form words like these as well.

For example, か弱い is now a single lexical word, originally consisting of 弱い
plus the prefix か-:

> か弱い

There's another possibility, too. Words are sometimes written in kana-kanji
mixtures, particularly for technical reasons (a kanji is missing from a font)
or because a given kanji is too rare or too difficult for the intended
audience. For example, I once saw 一生懸命 written 一生けん命. And it's possible for
the kanji which is replaced with kana to begin the word.

For example, 斡旋 might be written あっ旋 for this reason. When I search the
[_Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese
(BCCWJ)_](http://www.kotonoha.gr.jp/shonagon/), I see 53 results for 「あっ旋」 and
281 for 「斡旋」. My speculation is that this is because 斡 is not a common kanji,
listed as 2891 out of the 3500 most common kanji in [the frequency chart
published by the Agency of Cultural
Affairs](http://www.bunka.go.jp/kokugo_nihongo/bunkasingi/kanji_24/pdf/sanko_3.pdf).

Also, as Tsuyoshi Ito points out in a comment, 斡 is not included on the [Jōyō
kanji
chart](http://www.bunka.go.jp/bunkashingikai/soukai/pdf/kaitei_kanji_toushin.pdf).
As discussed [here](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/6727/do-
native-speakers-consciously-use-phonetic-elements-
in-%E5%BD%A2%E5%A3%B0%E6%96%87%E5%AD%97#comment17364_6730), in some contexts
non-Jōyō kanji are avoided, so this may be another reason why 斡旋 might be
written あっ旋.




Sure, a word that has at least one kanji can begin with kana. Generally, they
come from combinations with independent words that are usually written in
kana, or they come from combinations with prefixes like お- or ご-, although
there are other prefixes that can form words like these as well.

For example, か弱い is now a single lexical word, originally consisting of 弱い
plus the prefix か-:

> か弱い

There's another possibility, too. Words are sometimes written in kana-kanji
mixtures, particularly for technical reasons (a kanji is missing from a font)
or because a given kanji is too rare or too difficult for the intended
audience. For example, I once saw 一生懸命 written 一生けん命. And it's possible for
the kanji which is replaced with kana to begin the word.

For example, 斡旋 might be written あっ旋 for this reason. When I search the
[_Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese
(BCCWJ)_](http://www.kotonoha.gr.jp/shonagon/), I see 53 results for 「あっ旋」 and
281 for 「斡旋」. My speculation is that this is because 斡 is not a common kanji,
listed as 2891 out of the 3500 most common kanji in [the frequency chart
published by the Agency of Cultural
Affairs](http://www.bunka.go.jp/kokugo_nihongo/bunkasingi/kanji_24/pdf/sanko_3.pdf).

Also, as Tsuyoshi Ito points out in a comment, 斡 is not included on the [Jōyō
kanji
chart](http://www.bunka.go.jp/bunkashingikai/soukai/pdf/kaitei_kanji_toushin.pdf).
As discussed [here](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/6727/do-
native-speakers-consciously-use-phonetic-elements-
in-%E5%BD%A2%E5%A3%B0%E6%96%87%E5%AD%97#comment17364_6730), in some contexts
non-Jōyō kanji are avoided, so this may be another reason why 斡旋 might be
written あっ旋.

