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Can anybody explain why 七 is read as nana?
Aren’t numbers supposed to be read with ON reading?As far as I’m aware, the readings for 七 and 四 are interchangeable if purely saying the numbers on their own. なな is easier to distinguish than saying しち, as しち sounds similar to 一 (いち). As for 四, よん is preferred as し sounds similar to the reading for the word ‘death’ in Chinese 死 (sǐ). When you say the numbers 40 and 70, it’s 四十 (よんじゅう) and 七十 (ななじゅう) respectively.
When it comes to counting things, し and しち are both used with certain counters. For example:
四月 (しがつ) = April
七月 (しちがつ) = July
七人 (しちにん) = Seven people
七時 (しちじ) = 7 o’clockIf you’re interested, you can read more about unlucky numbers in Asian cultures here http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2011/01/why-the-number-four-is-considered-unlucky-in-some-east-asian-cultures/.
As for 四, よん is preferred as し sounds similar to the reading for the word ‘death’ in Chinese 死 (sǐ).
Never mind Chinese, it’s an exact homophone for “death” in Japanese. Also, one of the readings for the number nine is a homophone for “pain, suffering”, but that doesn’t seem to come up in conversation quite as often. Can’t type it at the moment, because the IME on this computer isn’t being nice.
As far as I’m aware, the readings for 七 and 四 are interchangeable if purely saying the numbers on their own. なな is easier to distinguish than saying しち, as しち sounds similar to 一 (いち). As for 四, よん is preferred as し sounds similar to the reading for the word ‘death’ in Chinese 死 (sǐ). When you say the numbers 40 and 70, it’s 四十 (よんじゅう) and 七十 (ななじゅう) respectively.
When it comes to counting things, し and しち are both used with certain counters. For example:<br>
四月 (しがつ) = April<br>
七月 (しちがつ) = July<br>
七人 (しちにん) = Seven people<br>
七時 (しちじ) = 7 o’clockIf you’re interested, you can read more about unlucky numbers in Asian cultures here http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2011/01/why-the-number-four-is-considered-unlucky-in-some-east-asian-cultures/.
Thank you very much for the explanation! So the reason why it is read like that is so as not to confuse it with another number?
Yes, that’s the main reason I’ve heard of. Perhaps there are more, but I’m not aware of them.
Perhaps there are more, but I’m not aware of them.
Etymology. =P
I’d like to read more about etymology, but I reckon it will eat into valuable study time. Ages ago when I bought a “Teach Yourself Japanese” book, it did have a section showing how kanji changed over time which was quite interesting.
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