流行 Reading

This is my first post, so sorry if it’s kind of wonky.
At level 12, 流行 has two readings: りゅうこう and はやり.はやり is the secondary reading, but nothing was given for it. Should I use はやり or no?

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流行 is generally りゅうこう. The はやり reading is for 流行り with the okurigana at the end.

Is there a difference in usage?

I think 流行 is a little more formal / stiffer, as is usually the case for jukugo words. Note also the verb 流行る (はやる), which is also common.

Thank you!

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I have occasionally seen はやり written 流行 (i.e. with irregular okurigana) and EDICT includes it as a possibility, but it’ll probably be furiganaed in that case.

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