Why is 悪夢 read as ゆめ？


> 夏の夜の[悪夢]{ゆめ}

I don't understand why 悪夢 is read as ゆめ not あくむ.




That's a technique Japanese authors use every so often: playing with
_furigana_ ( _rubi_ ) glosses. You can put a different word in the gloss and
in the kanji, and in this way insert two words simultaneously at the same
position. The implication is something like: the title is pronounced _yume_
"dream", but when saying "dream" they _mean_ a nightmare.

See discussion [in the comments
here](http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=27310); and, for a deeper
discussion, see Ariga, [_The Playful Gloss: Rubi in Japanese
Literature_](https://www.jstor.org/stable/2384611).




That's a technique Japanese authors use every so often: playing with
_furigana_ ( _rubi_ ) glosses. You can put a different word in the gloss and
in the kanji, and in this way insert two words simultaneously at the same
position. The implication is something like: the title is pronounced _yume_
"dream", but when saying "dream" they _mean_ a nightmare.

See discussion [in the comments
here](http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=27310); and, for a deeper
discussion, see Ariga, [_The Playful Gloss: Rubi in Japanese
Literature_](https://www.jstor.org/stable/2384611).

