Why does 一日中 read "ichinichijū"?

Japanese Language Kanji
1

hello!
i am very new to learning japanese but was looking through some N5 vocabulary online and this popped up. from what i see on wanikani 中 reads ちゅう, but the reading for 一日中 is いちにちじゅう. why would it read this way instead of いちにちちゅう?

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I believe that it’s due to this:

WK will warn users when that affects the pronunciation of vocabulary words.

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I believe that in this case it’s not actually rendaku but alternative reading when 中 is used as a suffix: Jisho.org: Japanese Dictionary

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中 as a suffix can be read both ways, but the meaning changes depending on the reading.

ちゅう (chuu) is for pointing out a particular time (currently; during, at some point):

  • 午前中 (gozen chuu) = at some point during the morning.
  • 会議中 (kaigi chuu) = currently in a meeting.

じゅう (juu) is used to cover a length of time or area in its entirety (through; throughout). It can also mean “before this period of time ends”.

  • 一年中 (ichinen juu) = all year round / before the end of the year.
  • 世界中 (sekai juu) = all around the world.

(source: https://jlptsensei.com/learn-japanese-grammar/中-chuu-juu-meaning/)

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Interesting…

I had learned the reading a long time ago without knowing that.

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