To think kanji: 思う (おもう): シ (shi) versus (shitau)


Regarding the on'yomi shi (シ), of the character 思 from the word 思う, why does
Google Translate list the pronunciation of this word/kanji as _shitau_ instead
of _shi_ (with _shitau_ missing from the dictionary entry as displayed below
in Takoboto):

![](https://i.stack.imgur.com/CJ72I.jpg)
![](https://i.stack.imgur.com/fkSvQ.jpg)




To answer your specific question, of _" why does Google Translate..."_ -- it
is a machine program, and thus it is only as good as the data fed into it,
combined with the cleverness of its algorithms. Clearly, the programmers have
not finished programming Google Translate to correctly handle Japanese.

In short: **Never trust Google Translate.** Especially when it comes to single
words. The reading _shitau_ is for the spelling 慕う, and it means "to yearn
for, to long for". 思 on its own is read (generally) as _shi_ and is only used
this way in compounds with other kanji.




To answer your specific question, of _" why does Google Translate..."_ -- it
is a machine program, and thus it is only as good as the data fed into it,
combined with the cleverness of its algorithms. Clearly, the programmers have
not finished programming Google Translate to correctly handle Japanese.

In short: **Never trust Google Translate.** Especially when it comes to single
words. The reading _shitau_ is for the spelling 慕う, and it means "to yearn
for, to long for". 思 on its own is read (generally) as _shi_ and is only used
this way in compounds with other kanji.

