I'm using a little side book that says KOKU and Kuni mean country. Koku is emphasized but I don't understand if both mean country, one is formal and one is informal, or if one is from Japan or one is from China. Just trying to figure out how this book works
It looks like your book is using ALL CAPS for on’yomi (Chinese readings). This is a convention that is sometimes used when rendering Japanese in romaji that itself is based on a different convention of using katakana for on’yomi and hiragana for kun’yomi.
KOKU isn’t a word by itself, but is part of many words related to country, such as 国際/こくさい (kokusai, “international”), 国語/こくご (kokugo, “national language”), and 国籍/こくせき (kokuseki, “nationality”).
Thank you so much! So it also sounds like kuni is the pronunciation of the word by itself, and koku is what is used when it is combined? (As well as on'yomi vs. Kunyomi)
Thank you so much! So it also sounds like kuni is the pronunciation of the word by itself, and koku is what is used when it is combined? (As well as on'yomi vs. Kunyomi)
国 is the kanji that means country
the onyomi reading for this kanji is こく -> KOKU
the kunyomi reading for this kanji is くに -> kuni
Very loosely speaking, the onyomi readings are the Chinese derived readings, and the kunyomi reading are the Japanese readings.
Typically, but not always, when a kanji is used by itself, the kunyomi reading is used.
That is true with this kanji, and 国 /くに -> kuni is a stand alone word that means country
When we combine kanji together, we typically, but not always, use the onyomi readings for the kanji.
As mentioned above, this is true for words like 国際/こくさい -> kokusai, “international”
