This question 掌 again. It's a shame there's no way to search feed posts or forum threads. I think the last place it was talked about was a month and a half ago on the "Chat" page, which you can read if you scroll back to January 18th. I feel like talking about this again anyway, even if not many people (if anyone) will ever wish to read all of this post...
Here are some possible *readings* for this 掌 kanji:
しょう (on'yomi)
たなごころ (kun'yomi)
てのひら (kun'yomi)
たなうら (kun'yomi)
たなそこ (kun'yomi)
つかさど.る (kun'yomi)
掌 is one of the 2,136 kanji in the jōyō kanji list. This kanji means "palm", both literally (the part of the body) and to mean things are done with the palm ("manipulate", "control", "govern" - like the expression "in the palm of ones hand"). There is ONLY ONE READING listed for that kanji in the official jōyō list — the on'yomi, しょう!
When this 掌 kanji is used within a compound kanji word, it is always read as しょう. However, "しょう" is not one of the Japanese word for "palm"; しょう is simply the pronunciation sound of the kanji (i.e. on'yomi).
To say palm in Japanese you say てのひら or maybe たなごころ. So if 掌 is written as a complete word on its own (not as part of a kanji compound word), then it is read as one of the Japanese words for palm (i.e. kun'yomi).
Not all of the words in the following list are in common use, and it's probably debatable how many of them should be described as kun'yomi for 掌... I think てのひら is the most common one, but I'm not Japanese so I have no idea. Here are some Japanese words for "palm":
手の平【てのひら】"palm (of one's hand)"
- 手【て】"hand" + の particle + 平【ひら】"flat". The word "palm" in some English is described as "flat of the hand".
たなごころ "palm (of one's hand)"
- た【手】"hand" + な particle + こころ【心】"heart (the centre)". This な is an old particle that was used in the making of compound nouns, and it has been replaced by の in modern Japanese.
たなうら "palm (of one's hand)"
- た【手】"hand" + な + うら【裏】 "bottom, undersurface"
たなそこ "palm (of one's hand)"
- た【手】"hand" + な + そこ【底】"bottom, sole"
手の内【てのうち】"palm (of one's hand)"
- 手【て】"hand" + の + 内【うち】"inside, among"
手の腹【てのはら】"palm (of one's hand)"
- 手【て】"hand" + の + 腹【はら】"stomach, abdomen, belly"
...And here's what that last so-called kun reading is for:
つかさどる "to rule, to govern, to administer"
- This verb is taken from 官【つかさ】"official, chief" + 取る "to take". It can be written in kanji as 司る or 掌る, but these is non-jōyō ways of writing the word (these are non-jōyō readings of those two kanji).
All this stuff I've written is just how I understand it, so there might be parts I've written which are completely wrong... :P
March 8, 2016 at 7:21am
Jisho.org says "te no hira" is the right pronounciation
This question 掌 again. It's a shame there's no way to search feed posts or forum threads. I think the last place it was talked about was a month and a half ago on the "Chat" page, which you can read if you scroll back to January 18th. I feel like talking about this again anyway, even if not many people (if anyone) will ever wish to read all of this post...
This word is really complicated!
