Why is 面 read as じ on 真面目?


This is the only word I've found where 面 has this reading. Is there any reason
for this unique reading?




According to [this answer on
chiebukuro](https://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q13257939583),
assuming I understood it correctly, the word まじめ existed in Japanese before
the kanji 真面目 were assigned to it and it came from the phrase まじまじと見る, which
means to take a long hard look at; to look (someone) full in the face.

真面目 also previously existed as a separate word read as しんめんもく, which means
one's true character; one's true self; one's true worth.

Related to this is the expression, 廬山の真面目（ろざんのしんめんもく）which comes from one of
the works (題西林壁, Tí xīlín bì) of a Chinese author (蘇軾, Sū shì). It seems to
have been a metaphor to express the idea that you should take a careful look
at something before you can truly understand it as a whole; the idea being
that 廬山, a mountain in China (Mt. Lúshān), is an extremely large thing with
various peaks and points to stand upon and look at the mountain from. Viewing
the mountain from each peak would give you a different view of the mountain,
in another sense, it would be hard to visualize how the mountain looks from
each spot alone, so I guess the only way to do so would be to carefully look
at it from various angles.

The answerer seems to suggest this is one possible way to link the two words
together to explain how it got the reading, but they also state that
真面目（しんめんもく）by itself also meant serious/earnest (this meaning of it is
obsolete now), and since まじめ, the already existing Japanese word, also meant
this as well, they hypothesize that まじめ was assigned as another way to read
真面目 as 当て字.




According to [this answer on
chiebukuro](https://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q13257939583),
assuming I understood it correctly, the word まじめ existed in Japanese before
the kanji 真面目 were assigned to it and it came from the phrase まじまじと見る, which
means to take a long hard look at; to look (someone) full in the face.

真面目 also previously existed as a separate word read as しんめんもく, which means
one's true character; one's true self; one's true worth.

Related to this is the expression, 廬山の真面目（ろざんのしんめんもく）which comes from one of
the works (題西林壁, Tí xīlín bì) of a Chinese author (蘇軾, Sū shì). It seems to
have been a metaphor to express the idea that you should take a careful look
at something before you can truly understand it as a whole; the idea being
that 廬山, a mountain in China (Mt. Lúshān), is an extremely large thing with
various peaks and points to stand upon and look at the mountain from. Viewing
the mountain from each peak would give you a different view of the mountain,
in another sense, it would be hard to visualize how the mountain looks from
each spot alone, so I guess the only way to do so would be to carefully look
at it from various angles.

The answerer seems to suggest this is one possible way to link the two words
together to explain how it got the reading, but they also state that
真面目（しんめんもく）by itself also meant serious/earnest (this meaning of it is
obsolete now), and since まじめ, the already existing Japanese word, also meant
this as well, they hypothesize that まじめ was assigned as another way to read
真面目 as 当て字.

