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The way I understand it, when two kanji are together without an okurigana in middle the onyomi reading is used for them. So why is 前 in 駅前 not read as ぜん? Is 前 an exception case?

I'm sorry if this question seems rather simplistic, I'm just a beginner in Japanese.

chocolate
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Bumble Bee
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  • You're referring to a rule of thumb, not something that officially determines how words are read. There are plenty of exceptions. – Leebo Nov 04 '18 at 11:54
  • I understand that - its a language, and there being exceptions is the norm. I just wanted to know the why behind this exception, if there was one – Bumble Bee Nov 04 '18 at 14:37
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    The important thing is that えきぜん is a theoretically plausible reading of 駅前, it's "not even wrong" if you will. But usage, for whatever reason, dictates えきまえ. 明日 may be read as あす, あした or みょうにち depending on circumstances. 来年 is らいねん (音読み), but 今年 is ことし (訓読み) etc. It's probably impossible to cast these into hard-and-fast rules. – John Frazer Nov 04 '18 at 16:41

2 Answers2

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Actually, 駅前 is structurally not as "monolithic" a word as similar-looking 門前 or 敵前. It's a compound made of two elements: a word 駅 "station" and a very productive "suffix" 前【まえ】.

This 前, even though dictionaries only give its noun definition "front", is very widely used in the real world to roughly mean "at, but not inside of" / "right outside the entrance of" a location or landmark. You'll see it very often as typical bus and tram stop names.

  • 第一小学校前
  • 新宿駅前の道路 a street in front of Shinjuku Station
  • ハチ公前で待ち合わせよう
    Let's meet up at Hachikо̄ (a famous dog statue beside Shibuya Station)!
chocolate
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broccoli forest
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駅前 is an abbreviation of 駅の前. So the said rule doesn’t apply to 駅前’s 前.

Hidechan
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    Not wrong but doesn't work as a rule. 田紳 is でんしん (gentleman from the countryside) but it is an abbreviation of 田舎紳士 which is read いなかしんし. – John Frazer Nov 04 '18 at 16:52
  • Either way of reading happens. Refer to 重箱読み and 湯桶読み. – Hidechan Nov 05 '18 at 06:17
  • In this case, 駅前 is true to 重箱読み. – Hidechan Nov 05 '18 at 06:26
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    yeah well so, to quote "So why is 前 in 駅前 not read as ぜん?" – John Frazer Nov 05 '18 at 08:50
  • Firstly, 田舎紳士 is not a good example, because the way of abbreviation is different from that of 駅前. It is difficult to read 田紳 as いなしん because 田舎 is a special way of reading and many people won’t see this word comes from 田舎紳士. So this word is read as でんしん by using 音読み. On the other hand, 駅の前 is shortened into 駅前, which is easy to read based on the expression 駅地下. Actually, it is especially rare to read 駅前 as えきぜん. – Hidechan Nov 05 '18 at 11:12
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    That's a lot of reasoning but the OP specifically asked for "two kanji w/out okurigana in the middle, should be onyomi, but 前 is kunyomi, is that an exception"; I tried to make clear that no, you can't be sure about that. "駅の前 is shortened into 駅前, which is easy to read based on the expression 駅地下"—I don't understand. "it is especially rare to read 駅前 as えきぜん"—right, that's the whole point. – John Frazer Nov 05 '18 at 12:33