Reading taught for the kanji "紫"

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I’m already in level 49 and I came across “紫外線”. When learning this word, it just says that the reading is the same as for the kanji, that is the on’yomi one (シ). However, 紫 belongs to level 23 and the only vocabulary that was taught with it back in level 23 was “紫” and “紫色”, both of which use the kun’yomi reading (むらさき). Wouldn’t it be more logical to learn the kun’yomi reading with kanji in level 23 and then the exceptional and advanced on’yomi reading in level 49?

While I’m not 100% certain, this could have been caused by changes in the level of the kanji and vocab. As such, this isn’t the only example where the reading taught in a kanji isn’t used until far later.

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I just started level 23 - gotta say am a little disappointed that ultraviolet rays is not until level 49. Would it not make more sense for 紫外線 to be part of the level 23 vocab since the other two kanji are in even earlier levels? and then both readings can be learned?

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I think the rationale is that the word is not super common so I think it makes sense to kick it up, although in this case it would make sense to update the reading taught with the kanji.

I just looked through the kanji list and WaniKani teaches three kanji with the 此 phonetic component: 雌, 柴 and 紫. They all share the シ on reading, but all three are more commonly used with their respective kun readings, so you don’t get a massive opportunity to memorize it.

In fact in my own kanji deck I also have 些, 砦 and 此 but the last two also only use their kun readings and 些 is read サ not シ. A tricky component overall…

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That’s true. Thinking back to when I was in Japan - pretty sure most sunscreen just mentioned UV as “UV”. So I can’t imagine using it much, and even where I can it would probably be as UV.

But on the other hand, I do like to learn both readings when I learn a kanji and then the vocab to reinforce it. Certainly I think it makes most sense to either only give the kun’yomi at 23, or have the vocab moved back.

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Thanks for bringing this up, this was actually just a little oversight on our end. We had intended on making the following changes when we moved 紫 down to level 23 but it didn’t happen at the time.

紫 kanji (23) - Made むらさき the primary reading and し the alternative reading, and updated the reading mnemonic and hint.

紫 (23) - Updated the reading explanation.
紫色 (23) - Updated the reading explanation.

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