This origin is also mentioned in the 大辞林.
The other one: in the entry for 締め (not 占め), 〆 is mentioned as an alternative way of writing when used as a 接尾 / 助数詞, so I assume this is a valid spelling?
1 Like
The way I understood it, 〆 is nowadays a valid alternative spelling of 締め, but the origin of 〆 is 占め, so the origin is not a valid spelling.
But it looks like 〆 isn’t even the primary spelling, so it doesn’t really fit it with this list.
1 Like
This is just my mnemonic, but I remember 拳 by thinking of a fist as a 小武士.
The pronunciation makes me think it might be derived from something else.
1 Like
I’d like to propose the following changes to the table layout that should improve readability:
- Split into two (or three) different tables. The first one is for words where the origin is a valid spelling. For the other words, maybe further differentiate by sound changes.
- Use furigana for the main word and the origin. That way we can also omit the [sound change] label.
- Reduce the number of columns to two.
Here is an example how these changes could look like.
Excerpt from old table
Word Reading Possible Origin Origin Is a
Valid Spelling*妹 いもうと 妹人
[sound change]No *弟 おとうと 弟人
[sound change]No 栞 しおり 枝折り Yes 卸 おろし 下ろし No
Translated into new layout
Origin is a valid alternative spelling:
Word Origin 栞 枝折り
Origin is not a valid alternative spelling but is still pronounced the same way:
Word Origin 卸 下ろし
Origin is not an alternative spelling and is pronounced differently due to sound changes:
Word Origin 妹 妹人 弟 弟人
4 Likes
No objections here. Any chance you’ll volunteer to make the update? 
Is there a Japanese term for this phenomenon?
1 Like
Good question. I have no idea, but I’m curious as well.
The differing sounds likely exist because these compounded 訓読み words were made long ago when phonetics were different. Prior to the introduction of Chinese and the 漢字/漢語 that came with them. Like with most languages, some of the words received “updates” to modern phonetic rules and others didn’t and sound different.
I reorganize slightly to put all the one with origin as a valid spelling first, then the one with same spelling, then the one with sound change.
Oh and added a neat one 儚い = 果敢ない (valid spelling)
2 Likes
Nice list!
The only thing I can think to add off the top of my head is the word for mushroom, 茸 (きのこ), which may have possibly come from 木の子。
It was already in the list 
Today I found a new, easy, one while doing wanikani review :
辱める = 恥ずかしめる valid reading
Oh, well then this forum’s Ctrl+F feature is even worse than I thought it was.
2 Likes
Another fail burn, another discovery ! 保つ = 手 (た) 持つ (To Preserve)
2 Likes
Double tap F to use the browser’s native search function
4 Likes
Ctrl-F.
Just F does something weird with bookmarks. Also, I got locked out for a minute because I pushed F too many times.
2 Likes
Haha, yes, that’s what I meant
2 Likes
象る = 形取る (not a valid spelling)
I was going to post this one I while back and forgot all about it, oops.
1 Like
導 = 知る辺 (not a valid spelling)
Funnily enough, 知る辺 seems to exist as a word but with a different meaning: 知る辺 - Jisho.org
2 Likes
Split the table up into three as proposed and tried to sort by あいうえお order (thanks to whoever pre-sorted the list already!)
3 Likes