Go-on

Go-on or goon (呉音, English: /ˈɡ.ɒn/ GOH-on; Japanese pronunciation: [ɡo.oɴ] or [ɡoꜜoɴ], "sounds from the Wu region") are Japanese kanji readings based on the classical pronunciations of Chinese characters of the historically prestigious eastern Jiankang[1] (now Nanjing) dialect.

Go-on are the earliest form of on'yomi (音読み), preceding the kan-on (漢音) readings. Both go-on and kan-on exhibit characteristics of Middle Chinese.

  1. ^ Edwin G Pulleyblank (1991). Lexicon of Reconstructed Pronunciation: In Early Middle Chinese, Late Middle Chinese, and Early Mandarin. UBC Press. pp. 487–. ISBN 978-0-7748-4467-3.