Question about Kanji Readings

[TheSleeplike]

Hi, I am a relatively new student of the Japanese language and I have recently run into some trouble in my understanding of Kanji. I guess my confusion stems from the multiple readings and meanings that a single character can have, as well as the trouble of trying to make sense of a character based writing system as a native English speaker (learning hiragana and katakana were comparatively very simple to learn as they are both phonetic scripts and thus fit much closer with my natural understanding of languge.) From what I understand the kun-yomi is the japanese word for the character, and the on-yomi is the Japanese approximation of the original Chinese word's pronunciation. As I learn new characters I tend to look up which reading is used for that specific character when written alone so that I can expand my vocabulary as I learn each new character, assuming I don't already know that word in Japanese. For example, the kun-yomi reading of the character 水 would be みず, and the on-yomi reading would be スイ. In this case, the reading of the kanji that is the actual vocabulary word for water in Japanese is みず, so, while I obviously want to know all possible readings for a given character, my highest priority when learning that character for the first time would be to remember that the word for water in japanese in みず. This is what I have done for the first 50 or so kanji and everything has been moving relatively smoothly.

However, here is where I start to get confused and a bit frustrated. Take, for example, the character 玉, which as I've learned means gem/jewel or ball/sphere. The kun-yomi reading for this kanji is たま and the on-yomi reading is ギョク. However, the Japanese word for gem or jewel is ほうせき. Why is it that the meaning of the character is gem, but none of the readings mean gem? I know that you can combine two other kanji to write gem like 宝石, but if the meaning of 玉 itself is, in fact, gem, then why would it be necessary to combine it with anything? Shouldn't gem just mean gem?

I realize that this is quite a lengthy first post but an explanation would be greatly appreciated because I would love to keep learning more. I just need to make sure I am comprehending things correctly toward the beginning so that I don't end up learning a bunch of things wrong and end up making things more confusing for myself in the long run. Thank you!

 

[Toritoribe]

たま can mean gem, especially round gem such like pearl. The kanji 珠 is more common, but 玉 also can be used for that meaning. The dictionar has the entry.

たま【玉／球／珠】の意味 - 国語辞書 - goo辞書
(all in Japanese)

 

[TheSleeplike]

I see, thank you So then is 玉 more commonly used to mean ball or sphere rather than gem?

 

[TheSleeplike]

Also I'm seeing a similar issue with 金 which is supposed to mean gold, money or metal, yet money is written like お金 and metal is written like 金属. Does this mean that, by itself, 金 only means gold, and must be part of a compound to mean money or metal? Or can 金 still mean all three of those things on its own, and the additional kana or kanji are just alternative spellings?

 

[Angel Valis]

The お in お金 is an honorific prefix; you can simply say 金 to mean money as well, it's just not quite as polite. すし (寿司) is another word that can take honorific-お (お寿司).

The meanings that you'll find attributed to kanji are often general rather than specific, they're the meanings most associated with the character. Often, you'll be hard pressed to use only the one character to represent its meaning. And sometimes, even when you do, you'll learn that that single-character word may be archaic and rarely used compared to the Chinese-derived term. English has done the same sort of thing, with Latin, Greek, or other languages' words becoming more common than the original English or Anglo-Saxon words.

 

[TheSleeplike]

i see, thanks for helping me understand. it's a lot to wrap my head around but i think i will get more familiar with it over time. thanks again.

 

[Toritoribe]

I see, thank you So then is 玉 more commonly used to mean ball or sphere rather than gem?

When the single kanji 玉 is read ぎょく, it can mean gem especially jade or jasper, and doesn't mean ball or sphere.

Also I'm seeing a similar issue with 金 which is supposed to mean gold, money or metal, yet money is written like お金 and metal is written like 金属. Does this mean that, by itself, 金 only means gold, and must be part of a compound to mean money or metal? Or can 金 still mean all three of those things on its own, and the additional kana or kanji are just alternative spellings?

In compound words, 金 can mean gold, money, metal or some other meanings in both readings きん and かね. As for a single kanji 金, the reading きん means "gold, gold medal, Friday, etc, whereas かね is money or metal. As Angel Valis-san explained, たま as gem, かね as metal are not so common, though. (In other word, 玉[たま] and 金[かね] are almost always ball / sphere and money, respectively.)

 

[nekojita]

Everyone is being so good about not mentioning any compounds of those two particular kanji (not that I want to lower the tone of the thread).

 

[TheSleeplike]

I see, thanks everyone!