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Homebush, New South Wales

Homebush is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 12 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Strathfield.

The name of the suburb derives ultimately from an estate to the north, called "Home Bush" and owned by colonial surgeon D'Arcy Wentworth, via the historic Homebush railway station, named after the estate and built in 1855. The present-day suburb of Homebush is bisected by the main suburban railway, Parramatta Road and the M4 Motorway into distinct sections with separate histories of development and present patterns of land use. South of the railway, "Homebush South" covers the core of the historic Village of Homebush estate developed in 1878. This part of the suburb is predominantly low-rise historical homes, with a school, a historic commercial high street and newer mid-rise apartments clustered around the station. It was part of "Strathfield" from 1885 until 1977, and the boundary with Strathfield was further adjusted in 1995. North of the railway, "North Homebush" experienced industrial and residential development in the early 20th century and was a separate municipality until 1947. In the early 21st century, North Homebush has experienced significant population growth due to high density residential developments. The construction of the M4 Motorway in North Homebush led to the demolition of historic homes. Commercial premises now predominate in this area.

A number of geographical names outside the suburb also take their names from the Home Bush Estate. The separate suburb of Flemington was officially gazetted as "Homebush West" in 1992. Homebush Bay (early known as The Flats) is a major inlet on the southern side of the Parramatta River, now surrounded by the separate suburbs of Wentworth Point, Sydney Olympic Park and Rhodes.

History
The first name of settlement in the Concord Plains area was "Liberty Plains". This was a group of grants given to the Colony's first free settlers, who came on the ship "Bellona", in 1793. Most of the original settlers soon departed for agriculturally more attractive places, like the Hawkesbury. One of them, Edward Powell, later returned and established there the Half Way House Inn, on Parramatta Road just west of the creek that now bears his name. The Parish of Liberty Plains remains one of the 57 parishes of Cumberland County, New South Wales (the parish is a cadastral unit for use on land titles). That parish covers the suburb of Homebush West (Flemington), but not the suburb of Homebush, which is instead in the Parish of Concord.

When the Great Western Railway line came through there, with a station just behind Powell's Inn, the station borrowed the name "Homebush" from the nearest large estate, that of the "Home Bush Estate", owned by the Colony's then-assistant surgeon, D'Arcy Wentworth. The station was briefly the early terminus of the Great Western Line in 1855. It is commonly thought that this property and house with the name of "Home Bush" was established and named by D'Arcy Wentworth. Historian Michael Jones who had been commissioned by Stathfield Council to write the history of that municipality wrote: "Wentworth is popularly credited with having called the area after his 'home in the bush', although Homebush is also a place in Kent". However, according to local historian David Patrick it was not D'Arcy Wentworth who named "Home Bush" but an earlier grantee on the land – that being the military figure Thomas Laycock. It would appear that after Laycock became mentally ill, following his direct involvement in suppressing the Castle Hill convict rebellion, D'Arcy Wentworth became his doctor. It has been reputed that D'Arcy Wentworth either bought the Laycock Home Bush Farm from Laycock or, more fancifully, won the property in an unfair game of cards from the ailing Laycock. Wentworth retained Thomas Laycock's name of the property and added to its extent. Laycock had been granted 40 hectares in 1794 and increased this to 318 ha by 1803 and named it "Home Bush". A notice that Laycock placed in the newspapers about his property "Home Bush" is from before when Wentworth acquired the land from him. Later on, Wentworth acquired more land there himself and the estate had grown to 990 acre by 1811. However, the "Home Bush Estate" had only minor overlaps with the present suburb: most of Wentworth's Home Bush Estate (later a race course and paddocks) is located in present-day Olympic Park and Flemington. Most of the former "Home Bush Estate" became a separate suburb of former Auburn Council named "North Lidcombe", and (from 1989) "Homebush Bay", most of which became in 2009 the suburb of Olympic Park in the City of Parramatta, and a smaller part became the suburb of Wentworth Point.

By contrast, the village and later suburb of Homebush was subdivided from Powell's estate, a separate grant to the south. Powell's grant, enlarged in his lifetime, passed eventually to his son-in-law James Underwood in 1823. It was from the "Underwood Estate" that the "Village of Homebush", located south of the railway and west of Powell's Creek, was subdivided in 1878 for residential development, with a small village "high street" forming on Rochester Street adjacent to the railway station. An extended area to the south followed the oblique street pattern of Coventry Road (part of which was renamed Mackenzie Street in 1918) and Beresford Road, such as Albert Road and Oxford Road. The suburb of "Homebush" thus included the northern and central part of today's suburb of Strathfield, bounded by Homebush Road in the east. Near its southern extremity, Bushy Hill Street Estate, Homebush was subdivided in 1880. This estate included the south side of Redmyre Road, Florence Street and Bushy Hill Street (now Albyn Road), to the west of Homebush Road.

The then-suburb of Homebush (consisting of the part of today's Homebush and Strathfield south of railway and west of Homebush Road), together with the northern part of Druitt Town (which lay to its south), and the western part of Redmyre (east of Homebush Road) became part of Strathfield Municipality in 1885, after which directories listed houses in all three areas as being in "Strathfield".

After 1885, "Homebush" usually referred to the unincorporated part of the Underwood and Wentworth estates located north of the railway. This area remained underdeveloped for many years, and when "Homebush Municipality" was established over this area (Homebush North) in 1906, there were only 90 houses and 548 residents in the municipality. The incorporation of Homebush North and the development of primary and secondary industry nearby led to rapid development in that area. In 1925, the opening of the Homebush Theatre (later a cinema, now disused) on Parramatta Road spurred development of a commercial area along that road, but this area fell into decline in the late 20th century.

Homebush Municipality merged into Strathfield Municipality in 1947. In 1977, the geographical name "North Homebush" was discontinued. The modern suburb of "Homebush", combining former "North Homebush" and the northern part of Strathfield, were gazetted in 1995.

Description
Homebush is made up of a number of areas that were developed at different times. The modern suburb is bounded roughly by Saleyards Creek in the west and Powells Creek in the north and east. In the northwest, since 1992 it has been divided from the suburb of Sydney Olympic Park in the City of Parramatta by the A3 arterial road; prior to that, the northwest boundary was Boundary Creek. In the south, it is divided from the suburb of Strathfield by an irregular boundary roughly following the local artery road formed by Arthur Street, Broughton Road and Beresford Road, but which brings all of the properties facing that road within the boundaries of the suburb of Strathfield. This irregular boundary was established in 1977, after north Homebush became part of Strathfield Municipality, and the Homebush village centre was carved out of the suburb of Strathfield, eventually to be combined with north Homebush to form the modern suburb. The southern part of the historical suburb of Homebush (between Broughton Road and Albyn Road) is now part of the suburb of Strathfield. The area to the north of the railway that formed the historical Municipality of Homebush is now in the suburbs of Homebush and Homebush West (Flemington). Small strips to the northwest and northeast are in Sydney Olympic Park and North Strathfield respectively.

Homebush South (Homebush Village)
Homebush South, also called Homebush Village, is a locality comprising the part of the suburb of Homebush to the south of the railway. Homebush South has a population of 2,806 and a population density of 4,306 people per square kilometre. "Homebush South" was gazetted as a "neighbourhood" in 1992.

Homebush South consists of the bulk of the Village of Homebush estate which was first subdivided in 1878. This development was subdivided from the larger Underwood Estate, and is today split between the suburbs of Homebush and Strathfield. The land had boundaries of The Crescent, Homebush, Beresford, Coventry and Bridge Roads. Homebush Village became part of Strathfield Municipality, proclaimed in 1886. Within the estate, Broughton, Abbotsford and Burlington Roads and Rochester and Meredith Streets were also gazetted. In the December of that year, 381 house blocks were auctioned. By the end of the century, many large houses and substantial villas had been built. In the 20th-century house construction continued and most blocks had been built on by the end of the 1920s. Due to boundary changes after North Homebush was incorporated into Strathfield in 1947, the historic "Village of Homebush" estate is today partly in Homebush South and partly in the suburb of Strathfield.

The western boundary of Homebush South is Saleyards Creek, which flows through Airey Park and divides Homebush South from Flemington village, in the suburb of Homebush West. The creek also serves as the boundary between the cadastral units (used for land title purposes) of the Parish of Concord (to the east, including Homebush) and the Parish of Liberty Plains (to the west, including Flemington).

The Homebush Village centre lies on a section of Rochester Street close to the railway, which forms the "high street" of the village. The commercial buildings along the village high street are largely preserved from the 19th century and are protected as a heritage conservation area. Today, the village centre is populated by numerous cafes and restaurants, as well as independent businesses such as a bakery, a flower shop, a newsagency, a butcher, a bank, a post office, a pharmacy, doctors' surgeries and grocery stores. These shops extend to The Crescent, opposite Homebush railway station.

While there are low-to-medium-rise apartment blocks around the village centre, most of Homebush South is made up of freestanding residences. Reflecting the age and well-preserved condition of these residential streets, significant parts of the former Village of Homebush are protected as heritage conservation areas, including almost the entirety of Abbotsford Road, which runs east-west across most of the Village, as well as parts of Meredith Street.

Because the southern part of the village of Homebush is now administratively part of the suburb of Strathfield, various sites previously identified with Homebush are no longer within the boundaries of the suburb. These include the Homebush War Memorial in Davey Square, at the southern tip of the village of Homebush.

Homebush Public School, opened in 1885, is in the village centre. Homebush Boys High School is located on the western edge of Homebush South. A girls' school, Strathfield Girls High School, is located nearby in Strathfield and also serves Homebush South. Strathfield's main library is located on Rochester Street in Homebush South. The Catholic Seminary of the Good Shepherd, a training institution for priests, is also located in Hommebush South.

Homebush South is connected to North Homebush via two road connections: Subway Lane, which passes under the railway line to the west of the station, and Bridge Road, which passes over the railway line further west.

Notable or heritage listed houses in the Village of Homebush estate

 * Billesdon built 1915 for Stephen Rabone to a design by Rupert Minnett.
 * Broughlea built c.1881 for Horatio Aylward, a solicitor in the firm of Aylward and Wild.
 * Camden Lodge 1917 built as Canlidgy for Robert Trevethan and designed by Alfred Gambier Newman. The house was burnt out on 2012 and in 2023 the front of the house is being restored with James Phillips of Weir and Philips doing the heritage work and Litera Trotta architects designing the new two level rear wing with underground parking.
 * Dunkeld (now Edensor) was designed by Joseph Alexander Kethel and was built in 1906 by pastoral agent and tennis player John Peate Duguid (1875–1961). The house was then owned by James Pearce (1857–1916), who was the proprietor of the Strathfield Flour Mills.
 * Florenceville built c.1880 by John Shiply
 * Hawthorn built c.1886 for Frederick William Binney to a design by Cyril and Arthur Blacket. Binney was Secretary of the Newcastle-Wallsend Coal Company and the Northern Collieries Association.
 * Ingera built c.1894 for William Norton
 * Rothsay built c.1884 for stockbroker Samuel Thompson (1821–1910)
 * Wellbeck built c.1892 for solicitor Albert Nicholson. In 1902 the house became known as Warwick when Emily Forrester (the widow of William Forrester of Warwick Farm) owned the house. Emily Forrester died at Warwick, Homebush, in 1917.

North Homebush
North Homebush, the part of Homebush north of the railway, is bisected by Parramatta Road and the M4 Western Motorway. It has a total population of 8,966, of which the vast majority (7,797 people) is concentrated in the area south of the M4 motorway and north of the railway.

Because North Homebush is much better integrated with North Strathfield and Concord West, and Homebush South with Strathfield, than the two halves of Homebush are to each other, government planning documents refer to North Homebush and North Strathfield together, as the "Homebush Precinct". The "Homebush North Precinct" as defined by state government planning documents in fact lies in North Strathfield and Concord West, outside the suburb of Homebush completely.

The North Homebush area was developed slightly later than Homebush South. Although Edward Powell's Half Way House Inn on Parramatta Road had been established early in the life of the colony, the rest of the area was largely used for grazing. In the 1870s, stockyards (for the sale of livestock by auction) were erected adjacent to the station. In 1881, an attempt was made to subdivide the part of the former Home Bush Estate north of Parramatta Road, as the "Homebush Park Estate". However, this and subsequent subdivision proposals were not successful, and other than the lots adjacent to Parramatta Road, most of the land remained unsold and was sparsely populated.

When the NSW Government abattoirs were moved from Glebe to present-day Sydney Olympic Park, the stockyards were closed and replaced by Flemington stockyards, further west, in 1883. Hotels and other businesses were established in the area adjacent to the stockyards, servicing stockyard and abattoir workers.

The removal of the stockyards allowed development of North Homebush to begin, around the turn of the 20th century, with its own local government (the Municipality of Homebush) established in 1906. The area immediately around Parramatta Road became a busy commercial area, serving workers at factories located along Parramatta Road and further to the north, such as the Arnott's Biscuits factory and the EMI records factory, established in the early 20th century. This area was centred on the intersection of Knight Street with Parramatta Road. In 1947, North Homebush became part of the Municipality of Strathfield.

With the decline of industry and the increase of traffic congestion along Parramatta Road after World War II, many of the shops formerly located in the North Homebush commercial area are now shut or abandoned, similarly to other parts of Parramatta Road. Some remnants of the former commercial area remain, including the Horse and Jockey Hotel, a heritage-listed pub on the site of the original Half Way House Inn, as well as the imposing former Homebush Cinema, now abandoned. At least for the time being car sales yards continue to flourish along Parramatta Road but this main artery through North Homebush has now been re-zoned high density residential, with mid- and high-rise apartment blocks proliferating. The only commercial area along Parramatta Road which remains thriving is in the extreme west of this part of the suburb. It is part of Sydney Markets Plaza and serves the Sydney Markets at Flemington.

The construction of the M4 motorway in the 1970s led to the demolition of some of the fine houses of North Homebush, such as "Pomeroy House".

North of the M4 Western Motorway, the suburb boundaries extend further west to the western bank of Saleyards Creek. A large portion of this area is occupied by former industrial land, now redeveloped into parklands, office parks and the DFO Homebush shopping centre.

Other nearby commercial areas are the 'Bakehouse Quarter' in neighbouring North Strathfield and the Homebush Village centre in Homebush South.

As a postal town (for Australia Post purposes) the name "Homebush" refers only to North Homebush.

There are no schools in North Homebush, but the area is served partly by Homebush Public School and partly by North Strathfield Public School. It is also within the catchment areas of Homebush Boys High School and Strathfield Girls High School.

Heritage listings
Homebush has a number of heritage-listed sites. This includes the following state heritage listed site:
 * Great Southern and Western railway: Homebush railway station.

Governance
Homebush (now Homebush South and part of Strathfield) was one of the three areas that formed the Strathfield Council when it was proclaimed in 1885, the other two being Redmyre and Druitt Town. The part of the modern suburb north of the railway remained unincorporated until Homebush Municipality was established in 1906. Homebush Municipality operated until 1947, when it was amalgamated with Strathfield Municipality.

At state level, the part of Homebush south of the M4 motorway is represented in the Parliament of New South Wales by the seat of Strathfield, while the part north of the M4 is represented by the seat of Drummoyne. Until the 2011 state election, the division line was the railway: North Homebush was in Drummoyne, Homebush South was in Strathfield. For the 2015 and 2019 state elections, both parts of Homebush were in Strathfield.

At federal level, Homebush is in the Division of Reid. Prior to the 2009 redistribution that abolished the Division of Lowe, it was in the Division of Lowe.

Transport
Homebush railway station is serviced by all stations and limited stops services on the Inner West & Leppington Line of the Sydney Trains network. Homebush South is also served by Strathfield railway station, located a short distance east of the suburb boundary, which provides express services on the North Shore & Western Line, Northern Line and Inner West & Leppington Line, as well as regional and intercity lines. North Homebush is also served by North Strathfield railway station, located a short distance east of the suburb boundary. North Strathfield is on the Northern Line of the Sydney Trains network. It will also be served by the future Sydney Metro West rapid transit line. Transit Systems buses also service the area.

Parramatta Road and the M4 Motorway are the main arterial roads passing through North Homebush. Underwood Road is a local arterial connecting Parramatta Road with Homebush Bay Drive. Homebush South is accessible from the south via the local arterial Homebush Road, and from the east and west via the local arterial formed by Beresford and Broughton Roads. There are two road connections between North Homebush and Homebush South: the Bridge Road overpass and the Subway Lane underpass.

Schools

 * Homebush Public School, a government primary school, was established in 1885 on its present site between The Crescent, Rochester Street and Burlington Road. Brick buildings were originally built facing The Crescent in 1897 and Burlington Road in 1916.
 * Homebush Boys High School was founded in 1936 and is a comprehensive public high school for boys. Formerly a selective high school until the 1970s, Homebush Boys was regarded as one of the academically best-performing comprehensive schools, and has, in the past, been ranked above selective schools on the Higher School Certificate results. The school has an enrolment of approximately 1200 students and the students and staff are from diverse backgrounds and many of them live outside the area.

Demographics
At the 2021 census, there were 11,660 people in Homebush, a significant increase from the 7,007 residents in the 2016 census, reflecting the rapid increase in density in North Homebush. 27.9% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were India 19.7%, China 12.6%, South Korea 7.1%, Nepal 5.9% and Sri Lanka 2.7%%. The top responses for ancestry were Chinese (23.1%), Indian (16.5%), English (9.1%), Korean (8.6%) and Australian (6.9%). 25.3% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 13.8%, Korean 8.1%, Tamil 6.6%, Nepali 5.8% and Cantonese 5.6%. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 30.3%, Hinduism 25.1%, Catholic 14.8% and Buddhism 5.8%. Median weekly household income was $2,101, 20.3% higher than the national median.

Residents
The following were either born or have lived at some time in the suburb of Homebush:

 * Patricia Carlon, writer
 * John Henry Carver, physicist
 * Ray Griggs, naval officer
 * Greg Haddrick, screenwriter
 * May Hollinworth, theatre producer and director
 * Billy Hughes, Prime Minister of Australia
 * Sir Ronald Irish, tobacco magnate
 * Thomas Keneally, writer, author of Homebush Boy: A Memoir (1995)
 * Fenella Kernebone, arts presenter
 * Richard Killen, politician
 * Rosa Angela Kirkcaldie, hospital matron and army nurse
 * Chris Lang, politician
 * Evan Mander-Jones, educator and United Nations official
 * Phyllis Mander-Jones, librarian
 * Fred Shaw Mayer, zoologist
 * James McGirr, Premier of New South Wales
 * Charles Meredith, colonial politician in Tasmania
 * Louisa Anne Meredith, writer and illustrator
 * Michael Quinn, politician
 * Warren R Rodwell, former soldier, university teacher, hostage survivor and lyricist
 * Don Talbot, national swimming coach and sports administrator
 * D'Arcy Wentworth, surgeon

title: Homebush, New South Wales


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Raspail station

Raspail is a station of the Paris Métro, serving Line 4 and Line 6 in the 14th arrondissement. The station is now fitted with Platform screen doors, due to the Line 4 being fitted for automation.

Location
The station is located under Boulevard Raspail at the intersection with Boulevard Edgar-Quinet.

Name
The station is named after the Boulevard Raspail, named after 19th-century scientist and statesman François-Vincent Raspail.

History
The station opened on 24 April 1906 with the opening of the extension of line 2 Sud from Passy to Place d'Italie. On 14 October 1907, line 2 Sud became part of line 5. On 12 October 1942, the section of line 5 between Étoile and Place d'Italie, including Raspail was transferred from line 5 to line 6 in order to separate the underground and elevated sections of the metro (because the latter were more vulnerable to air attack during World War II). The line 4 platforms were opened on 30 October 1909 when the southern section of line 4 was opened between Raspail and Porte d'Orléans; this was temporarily separated from the section of line 4 opened on 21 April 1908 between Châtelet and Porte de Clignancourt. On 9 January 1910, the connecting section opened under the Seine between Châtelet and Raspail, completing line 4.

The station was renovated a first time after 1969 by adopting the style Mouton-Duvernet two-tone orange, cutting radically with the dominant white of the original metro. The station was renovated a second time in 2008 as part of the Renouveau du métro program and loses its Mouton style decoration and its orange tiles. The new furniture was blue on Line 6 and water green on Line 4. In 2017, new modifications were applied to the platforms of Line 4, as part of the future automation of the line.

In 2018, 1,995,962 travelers entered this station (connecting passengers between the two metro lines were not taken into account) which places it at the 259th position of the metro stations for its attendance.

Access
The station has two entrances in front of nos. 234 and 241 of the Boulevard Raspail.

Platforms
The platforms of the two lines are parallel and located at the same level. The platforms in the direction of Mairie de Montrouge and Charles de Gaulle-Étoile are connected to each other by two passages, offering a direct connection. The platforms of the two lines are of standard configuration. They are separated by the metro tracks located in the centre and the roofs of each line are elliptical. They are decorated in the style used for most of the metro stations. White ceramic bevelled tiles cover the walls, the tunnel exits and the outlets of the corridors. The roofs are coated and painted white, and the name of the station is in the Parisine font on enamelled plates. On the platforms of line 6, the lighting strip is white and rounded in the Gaudin style of the metro revival of the 2000s, the advertising frames are a white ceramic, and the seats are in Akiko blue style. On Line 4, the metro is automated, there are no more banners, advertising frames, advertising, or seats. After the successful experiment of the Line 14, the RATP started to look forward to automating existing lines. After completely automating line 1, the RATP started focusing on the Line 4. Because of that, Raspail was fitted with Platform screen doors and were installed in September and October 2018.

Bus connections
The station is served by Line 68 of the RATP Bus Network.

Nearby
Nearby are the Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain (contemporary art museum), the École Spéciale d'Architecture (architecture school) and the Montparnasse Cemetery.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Raspail station


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Sino-Japanese vocabulary

Sino-Japanese vocabulary, also known as kango, is a subset of Japanese vocabulary that originated in Chinese or was created from elements borrowed from Chinese. Some grammatical structures and sentence patterns can also be identified as Sino-Japanese.

Kango is one of three broad categories into which the Japanese vocabulary is divided. The others are native Japanese vocabulary (yamato kotoba) and borrowings from other, mainly Western languages (gairaigo). It has been estimated that about 60% of the words contained in modern Japanese dictionaries are kango, and that about 18–20% of words used in common speech are kango. The usage of such kango words also increases in formal or literary contexts, and in expressions of abstract or complex ideas.

Kango, the use of Chinese-derived words in Japanese, is to be distinguished from kanbun, which is historical Literary Chinese written by Japanese in Japan. Both kango in modern Japanese and classical kanbun have Sino-xenic linguistic and phonetic elements also found in Korean and Vietnamese: that is, they are "Sino-foreign", meaning that they are not pure Chinese but have been mixed with the native languages of their respective nations. Such words invented in Japanese, often with novel meanings, are called wasei-kango. Many of them were created during the Meiji Restoration to translate non-Asian concepts and have been reborrowed into Chinese.

Kango is also to be distinguished from gairaigo of Chinese origin, namely words borrowed from modern Chinese dialects, some of which may be occasionally spelled with Chinese characters or kanji just like kango. For example, (Pekin, "Beijing") which was borrowed from a modern Chinese dialect, is not kango, whereas  (Hokkyō, "Northern Capital", a name for Kyoto), which was created with Chinese elements, is kango.

Background
Ancient China's enormous political and economic influence in the region had a deep effect on Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and other Asian languages in East and Southeast Asia throughout history, in a manner somewhat similar to the preeminent position that Greek and Latin had in European history. For example, the Middle Chinese word for gunpowder,, is rendered as hwayak in Korean, and as kayaku in Japanese. At the time of their first contact, the existing Japanese language had no writing system, while the Chinese had a written language and a great deal of academic and scientific information, providing new concepts along with Chinese words to express them. Chinese became the language of science, learning, religion and government. The earliest written language to be used in Japan was literary Chinese, which has come to be called kanbun in this context. The kanbun writing system essentially required every literate Japanese to be competent in written Chinese, although it is unlikely that many Japanese people were then fluent in spoken Chinese. Chinese pronunciation was approximated in words borrowed from Chinese into Japanese; this Sino-Japanese vocabulary is still an important component of the Japanese language, and may be compared to words of Latin or Greek origin in English.

Chinese borrowings also significantly influenced Japanese phonology, leading to many new developments such as closed syllables (CV(N), not just CV) and length becoming a phonetic feature with the development of both long vowels and long consonants. (See Early Middle Japanese: Phonological developments for details.)

Grammar
Sino-Japanese words are almost exclusively nouns, of which many are verbal nouns or adjectival nouns, meaning that they can act as verbs or adjectives. Verbal nouns can be used as verbs by appending suru (する) (e.g. benkyō suru (勉強する)), while an adjectival noun uses -na (〜な) instead of -no (〜の) (usual for nouns) when acting attributively.

In Japanese, verbs and adjectives (that is, inflecting adjectives) are closed classes, and despite the large number of borrowings from Chinese, virtually none of these became inflecting verbs or adjectives, instead being conjugated periphrastically as above.

In addition to the basic verbal noun + suru form, verbal nouns with a single-character root often experienced sound changes, such as -suru (〜する) → -zuru (〜ずる) → -jiru (〜じる), as in kinjiru (禁じる), and some cases where the stem underwent a sound change, as in tassuru (達する), from tatsu (達).

Sino-Japanese and on'yomi
The term kango is usually identified with "sound reading" (音読み), a system of pronouncing Chinese characters in a way that at one point approximated the original Chinese. On'yomi is also known as the 'Sino-Japanese reading', and is opposed to "reading by meaning" (訓読み) under which Chinese characters are assigned to, and read as, native Japanese vocabulary.

However, there are cases where the distinction between on'yomi and kun'yomi does not correspond to etymological origin. Chinese characters created in Japan, called, normally only have kun'yomi, but some kokuji do have on'yomi. One such character is 働 (as in 働く hataraku, "to work"), which was given the on'yomi dō (from the on'yomi of its phonetic component, 動) when used in compounds with other characters, e.g. in 労働 rōdō ("labor"). Similarly, the character 腺 ("gland") has the on'yomi sen (from the on'yomi of its phonetic component, 泉 sen "spring, fountain"), e.g. in 扁桃腺 hentōsen "tonsils"; it was intentionally created as a kango and does not have a kun'yomi at all. Although not originating in Chinese, both of these are regarded as 'Sino-Japanese'.

By the same token, that a word is the kun'yomi of a kanji is not a guarantee that the word is native to Japanese. There are a few Japanese words that, although they appear to have originated in borrowings from Chinese, have such a long history in the Japanese language that they are regarded as native and are thus treated as kun'yomi, e.g., 馬 uma "horse" and 梅 ume. These words are not regarded as belonging to the Sino-Japanese vocabulary.

Words made in Japan
While much Sino-Japanese vocabulary was borrowed from Chinese, a considerable amount was created by the Japanese themselves as they coined new words using Sino-Japanese forms. These are known as ; compare to.

Many Japanese-created kango refer to uniquely Japanese concepts. Examples include, , , , , , , , , , , , , , and Bushidō (武士道)

Another miscellaneous group of words were coined from Japanese phrases or crossed over from kun'yomi to on'yomi. Examples include henji (返事 meaning 'reply', from native 返り事 kaerigoto 'reply'), rippuku (立腹 'become angry', based on 腹が立つ hara ga tatsu, literally 'belly/abdomen stands up'), shukka (出火 'fire starts or breaks out', based on 火が出る hi ga deru), and ninja (忍者 from 忍びの者 shinobi-no-mono meaning 'person of stealth'). In Chinese, the same combinations of characters are often meaningless or have a different meaning. Even a humble expression like gohan (ご飯 or 御飯 'cooked rice') is a pseudo-kango and not found in Chinese. One interesting example that gives itself away as a Japanese coinage is kaisatsu-guchi (改札口 literally 'check ticket gate'), meaning the ticket barrier at a railway station.

More recently, the best-known example is the prolific numbers of kango coined during the Meiji era on the model of Classical Chinese to translate modern concepts imported from the West; when coined to translate a foreign term (rather than simply a new Japanese term), they are known as. Often they use corresponding morphemes to the original term, and thus qualify as calques. These terms include words for new technology, like 電話 denwa ('telephone'), and words for Western cultural categories which the Sinosphere had no exact analogue of on account of partitioning the semantic fields in question differently, such as 科学 kagaku ('science'), 社会 shakai ('society'), and 哲学 tetsugaku ('philosophy'). While many terms were coined afresh (such as 科学 and 哲学), many were repurposed classical Chinese compounds, whose meanings were tenuously similar to their western counterparts. Here are a few examples:

Notably, the names of the military ranks used throughout the Sinosphere were neither coined anew nor repurposed from Classical Chinese, but were based on the ranks under the Ritsuryō government. Certain military agencies, such as the Konoefu (近衛府), the Hyōefu (兵衛府) and the Emonfu (衛門府), were headed by officials titled with shō (将), sa (佐) and i (尉) (see the Japanese article, 四等官), which later corresponded to "general officer", "senior officer" and "junior officer" in the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces and adopted by other militaries in China, Korea and Vietnam. See the articles for these ranks for more (Ranks of the Imperial Japanese Army, Comparative military ranks of Korea, Ranks of the People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ranks of the People's Liberation Army Navy, Ranks of the People's Liberation Army Air Force, Republic of China Armed Forces rank insignia, Vietnamese military ranks and insignia).

Despite resistance from some contemporary Chinese intellectuals, many wasei kango were "back-borrowed" into Chinese around the turn of the 20th century. Such words from that time are thoroughly assimilated into the Chinese lexicon, but translations of foreign concepts between the two languages now occur independently of each other. These "back-borrowings" gave rise to Mandarin diànhuà (from denwa), kēxué (from kagaku), shèhuì (from shakai) and zhéxué (from tetsugaku). Since the sources for the wasei kango included ancient Chinese texts as well as contemporary English-Chinese dictionaries, some of the compounds—including 文化 bunka ('culture', Mandarin wénhuà) and 革命 kakumei ('revolution', Mandarin gémìng)—might have been independently coined by Chinese translators, had Japanese writers not coined them first. A similar process of reborrowing occurred in the modern Greek language, which took back words like τηλεγράφημα telegrafíma ('telegram') that were coined in English from Greek roots. Many of these words have also been borrowed into Korean and Vietnamese, forming (a modern Japanese) part of their Sino-Korean and Sino-Vietnamese vocabularies.

Alongside these translated terms, the foreign word may be directly borrowed as gairaigo. The resulting synonyms have varying use, usually with one or the other being more common. For example, 野球 yakyū and ベースボール bēsubōru both translate as 'baseball', where the yakugo 野球 is more common. By contrast, 庭球 teikyū and テニス tenisu both translate as 'tennis', where the gairaigo テニス is more common. Note that neither of these is a calque – they translate literally as 'field ball' and 'garden ball'. ('Base' is 塁 rui, but 塁球 ruikyū is an uncommon term for 'softball', which itself is normally ソフトボール sofutobōru).

Finally, quite a few words appear to be Sino-Japanese but are varied in origin, written with — kanji assigned without regard for etymology. In many cases, the characters were chosen only to indicate pronunciation. For example, sewa ('care, concern') is written 世話, using the on'yomi "se" + "wa" ('household/society' + 'talk'); although this word is not Sino-Japanese but a native Japanese word believed to derive from sewashii, meaning 'busy' or 'troublesome'; the written form 世話 is simply an attempt to assign plausible-looking characters pronounced "se" and "wa". Other ateji of this type include 面倒 mendō ('face' + 'fall down' = 'bother, trouble') and 野暮 yabo ('fields' + 'livelihood' = 'uncouth'). (The first gloss after each character roughly translates the kanji; the second is the meaning of the word in Japanese.)

Types of on'yomi
On'yomi were originally used in ondoku (音読 "sound reading"), the Japanese system for reading aloud texts in the Middle Chinese (MC) language. A huge number of loanwords entered the Japanese language from Middle Chinese, intermediated by these conventionalized pronunciations. There are different types of on'yomi for Sino-Japanese vocabulary, depending mainly on the time period of borrowing.

Go-on (呉音 "Wu sound") readings represent the first major wave of Chinese borrowing in the 5th and 6th centuries, coinciding with the introduction of Buddhism in Japan. It is not agreed whether Go-on pronunciations are clearly derived from a particular dialect of Middle Chinese. Buddhist teachings along with the Chinese language were largely imported through the Korean peninsula, and it is unclear to what extent this fact influenced the Go-on pronunciations. Certain genres of modern vocabulary largely use Go-on readings, especially words related to Buddhism and law.

Kan-on (漢音 "Han sound") readings were introduced in the 7th through 9th centuries during the Tang dynasty, and are based on the central Chang'an pronunciation of Middle Chinese. While there was a large-scale effort to replace Go-on readings with Kan-on readings when pronouncing Chinese texts in Japan, this effort did not extend to changing the pronunciation of borrowed words that were already used in Japanese. Massive borrowing of Chinese loanwords continued during this period, and these new borrowings reflected the new Kan-on readings. Today, Kan-on readings are the most commonly encountered type of on'yomi.

Kan'yō-on (慣用音 "customary sound") readings are not considered to follow the regular patterns for adapting either Go-on or Kan-on readings, but are commonly encountered in existing Sino-Japanese words. In some cases, the Kan'yō-on reading is in fact a regular development of the original Go or Kan on'yomi in a particular environment. For example, 拉 (MC lop) has the Kan'yō-on reading /raQ/ (or /ra/) in all Sino-Japanese words, which is the regular development of earlier /rap(u)/ before a voiceless obstruent. A common irregularity for Kan'yō-on is an unexpected voicing value for an initial obstruent. For example, 斬 (MC tʂɛmX) is read in all Sino-Japanese words as /zaN/ rather than the expected Kan-on reading /saN/.

Tō-on/Sō-on (唐音 "Tang sound" or 宋音 "Song sound") readings were introduced mostly from the 12th century onward, during and after the Song dynasty. "Tang" was in this context used to mean "Chinese" (i.e. "real Chinese pronunciation"), with no intended connection to the earlier Tang Dynasty. Due to their more recent borrowing, Tō-on readings are sometimes more recognizably similar to Modern Chinese pronunciations. There are far fewer Sino-Japanese loanwords with Tō-on readings compared to Go-on and Kan-on readings. Dictionaries do not attempt to provide a Tō-on reading for each kanji as many do for Go-on and Kan-on readings.

Go-on and Kan-on readings have a special status when compared with other on'yomi types. Arising initially out of the need to be able to read any Chinese text aloud using ondoku, there is a long-standing practice of providing a Go and Kan reading for every kanji, even those which have never actually been used in borrowed Sino-Japanese vocabulary. The readings which are not actually encountered in Sino-Japanese loanwords were largely codified in the Edo period through the philological study of Chinese rime tables. These readings are given in many dictionaries, though for the less common kanji there is sometimes disagreement between sources.

Correspondences between Middle Chinese and on'yomi
All characters used to write Middle Chinese represented a single syllable in the spoken language, made up of an "initial" (a single onset consonant), and a rime (the remainder of the syllable). Originally, the on'yomi for kanji attempted to closely match the Middle Chinese pronunciation for each character, while guided by the possible sounds and structures of Japanese as spoken at the time. In fact a number of new word shapes entered the language to accommodate the large influx of Chinese borrowings. Subsequently, many sound changes took place in Japanese, affecting both borrowed and native vocabulary. As such, on'yomi now often bear little resemblance to their original Middle Chinese source, and are even less similar to the pronunciation of the same characters in modern Chinese languages, which have undergone many changes from Middle Chinese. For example, 兄 (MC xjwæŋ) had the Go-on pronunciation [kwjaũ] when it was first borrowed, which subsequently developed to [kjaũ], then [kjau], then [kjɔː], and finally modern Japanese /kyō/ [kjoː].

Onsets (initials)
The Early Middle Chinese (EMC) initials have the following regular correspondences in Go and Kan on'yomi. Aspiration was contrastive in Middle Chinese, but voiceless obstruents were adapted to Go and Kan pronunciations in the same way regardless of aspiration. However, many Kan'yō on'yomi exist with voiced obstruents corresponding to Middle Chinese unaspirated (and sometimes aspirated) voiceless obstruents. For example, 軍 (MC kjun) 'army' has the prescribed Go/Kan reading kun, but Kan'yō gun is the only reading actually used in Japanese. There are multiple reasons for the changes from the earlier Go to the later Kan pronunciations. These borrowings were drawn both from different times and different regions of China, and furthermore the Go pronunciations were likely intermediated through Korean Buddhist monks. However, there is little to support the claim that Go-on pronunciations were at the time of their introduction "less accurate" than their later Kan-on counterparts. The discrepancies between the two on'yomi categories are largely due to changes that took place between Early and Late Middle Chinese. The Early Middle Chinese (EMC) voiced obstruents became breathy voiced in Late Middle Chinese, e.g. [b > pɦ]. EMC [ɲ] became [ɻ], later becoming [ʐ] in Northern Chinese dialects. In the Japanese of both time periods, the voiced obstruents were prenasalized as [mb, nd, ndz, ŋg], helping to explain why they correspond to Middle Chinese nasals in Kan on'yomi. The Japanese consonant [p] developed first to [f] or [ɸ], and more recently to /h/ (with allophones [h, ɸ, ç]). Older [p] remains modern Japanese /p/ after the special moras /N/ and /Q/, and as such all /h/-initial on'yomi have regular variants with /p/ in this environment, for example Kan-on 筆 /hitu/ 'brush' vs. 鉛筆 /eN.pitu/ 'pencil'.

Rimes (medials and finals)
Middle Chinese rimes or "finals" contained a vowel, optional glides before the vowel (sometimes called "medials"), and an optional coda consonant /j, w, m, n, ŋ, p, t, k/— schematically (j)(w)V(C). The precise phonetic realization of the MC vowels is debated, and the set of vowels possible before different coda consonants varies considerably. When borrowed into Japanese, the more complicated MC vowel system was adapted to fit the Japanese five vowel system with /i, e, a, o, u/. MC rimes could begin with a glide /w/, /j/, or both /jw/. The earliest Japanese on'yomi allow the following sequences containing glides: All of the /Cy/ and /Cw(y)/ sequences were newly introduced by borrowing from Chinese, though some would later arise in native vocabulary. By the advent of the "historical kana" spellings (13th century, lasting until 1946), the "ancient" kana sequences with /CwyV/ had long before lost their /w/, those with /Cwi/ had become /Cui, ki, gi/, and /ye/ merged with /e/. Later, /w/ was lost everywhere except in the sequence /wa/ with no preceding consonant. The presence of these glides in on'yomi is in some cases not easily predictable, for example 約 (MC ʔjak) has the Go reading yaku, while 央 (MC ʔjaŋ) has the jōyō Go reading ō, with yō listed as an alternate (but unused) Go reading.

The tables below show the regular correspondences between MC rimes and Japanese on'yomi (Go and Kan readings). The rimes are given in the transcription systems of Bernhard Karlgren, Li Rong, and William Baxter (see Middle Chinese finals for more transcription systems). Examples are given using the MC reconstructions from Karlgren's Grammata Serica Recensa (GSR), with the rimes transcribed using Baxter's system (see Character List for Karlgren's GSR). Japanese on'yomi are given in a phonemic transcription (see Japanese phonology).

Different MC rimes were restricted to following only certain MC initial consonants. Furthermore, the identity of the initial consonant sometimes results in a different regular outcome for the Japanese on'yomi. For the purposes of determining the Japanese on'yomi, the following sets of consonants can be distinguished: Developments after the Japanese consonants /r/ (from MC /l/) and /n/ (from MC /n, ɳ, ɲ/) are noted where relevant. The MC onset /y/ (like all palatal onsets) appears only with MC rimes beginning in /j/, and generally patterns in on'yomi with MC /ʔ/ before the same rimes, but sometimes there is a distinction, where /y/ patterns with S. Where one of these five categories (P, T, S, K, Ø) appears in parentheses in the tables below, it refers to the adaptation of the MC rime after these different sets of consonants. Five columns in each table mark whether the given MC rime is found after each of these onset categories. A bullet (•) indicates that Go and Kan on'yomi exist corresponding to the given MC rime after the given onsets. When (~) appears, it indicates that an MC character exists which is expected to provide a relevant Japanese on'yomi, but it either has no identified reading, has on'yomi which are not clearly distinguished as Go vs. Kan, or has multiple MC pronunciations which make it impossible to determine which MC rime the on'yomi correspond to.

While the correspondences between MC rimes and Japanese on'yomi are rather consistent, there exists considerably more irregularity than is represented in these tables. Exceptional pronunciations are often found even for officially recognized Go and Kan readings. Furthermore, many kanji have Kan'yō-on readings, which by definition do not follow the regular correspondences, but appear in established Sino-Japanese words. The illusion of regularity is bolstered by the fact that lexicographers generally provide Go and Kan readings for characters based on their expected outcome, even when these readings are not actually employed in any Japanese word. Out of necessity, many of the examples shown below are of this type. Readings in the jōyō kanji list are highlighted in blue.

Vowel-final rimes
These MC rimes have no consonant after the vowel.

Rimes ending in a palatal glide
These MC rimes are analyzed as having a palatal glide after the vowel, though not all of the rimes end in a phonetic [j] in all MC transcription systems. These mostly end up as Japanese ai, e, ē, i, or ui.

Rimes ending in a labial glide
The MC rimes ending in a labial glide were for the most part borrowed as diphthongs in Japanese. These later monophthongized as long vowels, such that these MC rimes mostly correspond to modern Japanese ō, yō, ū, or yū.

Rimes with coda m
MC coda /m/ was originally written in Japanese with the man'yōgana 无, which came to stand for the nasal special mora /N/. The manyō'gana 无 developed into the hiragana ん used to represent /N/. It is possible that 无 originally represented two distinct sounds, moraic /m/ and moraic /n/ (from MC coda /n/, see below), but they may have been pronounced identically in Sino-Japanese vocabulary from the start. Regardless, 无 would not have stood for /mu/ in these words (the Go-on reading), just as the precursors of hiragana つ represented /t/ and not /tu/ when adapting the MC coda /t/ (see below). Native /mu/ from this time (man'yōgana 牟 or 武, among others) remains /mu/, developing to /N/ only under very specific circumstances, while the borrowed moraic /m/ always develops to /N/.

Rimes with coda n
MC coda /n/ was adapted in Japanese as the nasal special mora /N/.

Rimes with coda ŋ
MC coda /ŋ/ was borrowed as a single Japanese phoneme which was realized as two nasalized offglides: [ĩ] after /e/, and [ũ] after /u, o, a/. The nasality of these glides was generally not represented in writing, but in some cases was indicated with the same diacritic mark that would become the dakuten used to mark prenasalized obstruents. These glides then denasalized, and the resulting diphthongs later monophthongized as long vowels. As such, almost all characters with the MC coda /ŋ/ end in ō, yō, ē, ū, or yū in modern Japanese on'yomi.

Rimes with coda p
MC coda /p/ was borrowed as Japanese /pu/ (likely pronounced as [βu] after a vowel at the time of borrowing). Note that these original readings are identical to the readings for MC /m/-final rimes, but with ふ in place of ん. The phoneme /p/ eventually lenited to /h/ word-initially, but was lost between vowels (except Vpa > Vwa). The result was that all /pu/-final readings developed /Vu/ sequences, which later monophthongized. This same change is seen in native vocabulary, as in OJ ke1pu > ModJ kyō 'today'. As a result of this development, all characters with the MC coda /p/ have Go and Kan readings ending in ō, yō or yū in modern Japanese.

Originally, borrowed coda /p/ functioned just like coda /t, k/ (see below) in that the "epenthetic" vowel /u/ did not appear before a voiceless obstruent /h~p, t, s, k/ in the same word, resulting in readings with the obstruent special mora /Q/ in place of /pu/. This phenomenon can still be seen in a number of Japanese words, for example 十 /zipu/ > /zyū/ 'ten' vs. 十歳 /ziQ.sai/ [dʑissai] 'ten years old' (now usually /zyuQ.sai/ [dʑɯssai]). For 拉 (MC lop), the expected Kan reading /rapu > rō/ is not found in Sino-Japanese vocabulary, but only /raQ/ as in 拉致 /raQ.ti/ [ɾattɕi] 'abduction' (shortened in most words to /ra/). However, for many characters, the vowel-final readings have been extended to all environments. In some cases, the reading with /Q/ led to the analogical creation of a /tu/-final reading. Notably, for 立 (MC lip) the Kan'yō-on reading /ritu/ (from regular /riQ/) is overwhelmingly common in Sino-Japanese vocabulary.

Rimes with coda t
The MC coda /t/ was borrowed as Japanese /t/. Characters ending in this consonant were at first consistently pronounced with no epenthetic vowel, with the kana つ serving double duty to represent /t/ and /tu/. Note that these readings are identical to the readings for MC /n/-final rimes, but with つ/ち in place of ん. Later, an epenthetic vowel /u/ or /i/ was inserted after the consonant in most environments. Kan-on readings use /tu/ exclusively, while the earlier Go'on readings use both /ti/ and /tu/ unpredictably. For example, MC 跋 bat is adapted as Go /batu/, while the homophonous MC 犮 bat is listed in dictionaries as Go /bati/ (though it is not actually used in existing Japanese words). Often Go readings with /ti/ and /tu/ are listed for the same character, though in practice those with /tu/ are much more common. For example, 滅 has the Go readings /meti/ and /metu/, but only /metu/ is recognized as the jōyō reading, and this is the only Go reading found in existing Japanese words. In fact only nine characters have jōyō readings with /(C)Vti/, though these include the common characters 一 /iti/ 'one', 七 /siti/ 'seven', 八 /hati/ 'eight', and 日 /niti/ 'day'. Before a voiceless obstruent /h~p, t, s, k/ in the same word, the epenthetic vowel does not appear, and the /t/ functions as the obstruent special mora /Q/, forming a geminate with the following obstruent. For example, 日 /niti/ 'day' appears as /niQ/ in the word 日記 /niQ.ki/ [nikki] 'diary'.

Rimes with coda k
MC coda /k/ was borrowed as Japanese /k/ with a following epenthetic /i/ (after /e/) or /u/ (after /a, o, u/). After /i/, the epenthetic vowel (/iki/ vs. /iku/) depends on the original Middle Chinese vowel. The readings for MC /k/-final rimes are very similar to the original readings for MC /ŋ/-final rimes with く/き in place of nasalized う/い, but in this case there are some differences. Just like with coda /t/, the epenthetic vowel is absent before a voiceless obstruent /h~p, t, s, k/ in the same word, and the /k/ functions as the obstruent special mora /Q/. For example, 学 /gaku/ 'study' appears as /gaQ/ in the word 学校 /gaQ.kō/ [gakkō] 'school'.

Shapes of borrowed Sino-Japanese roots
All MC roots were a single syllable, and due to the restrictions on possible MC syllable shapes, a limited set of readings (on'yomi) are possible for borrowed Sino-Japanese roots. Furthermore, due in large part to the many distinct MC sounds which were merged when borrowed into Japanese, some readings are extremely common across different kanji, while others are very rare. The below table gives the number of kanji with each possible jōyō on'yomi (not distinguishing between Go, Kan, Tō, and Kan'yō, and not including readings considered restricted or rare). A zero represents a reading which is attested in Sino-Japanese vocabulary, but uses a non-jōyō reading. Readings which are listed in dictionaries but which are merely hypothesized and do not appear in attested Japanese words are not considered.

Due to the fact that most MC syllables had a coda, most Japanese on'yomi are bimoraic, containing either two syllables, a long vowel, or the moraic nasal /N/. These last two structures are extremely common in Sino-Japanese roots, but somewhat rare in native Japanese vocabulary. For these and other reasons, the phonological patterns of Sino-Japanese words and native Japanese words are markedly different, and it is very often possible to correctly guess the etymological origin of a word based solely on its shape.

Comparison with Mandarin
At first glance, the on'yomi of many Sino-Japanese words do not resemble the Modern Standard Chinese pronunciations at all. Firstly, the borrowings occurred in three main waves, with the resulting sounds identified as, , and ; these were at different periods over several centuries, from different stages in Historical Chinese phonology, and thus source pronunciations differ substantially depending on time and place. Beyond this, there are two main reasons for the divergence between Modern Standard Chinese and Modern Standard Japanese pronunciations of cognate terms:
 * 1) Most Sino-Japanese words were borrowed in the 5th - 9th centuries AD, from Early Middle Chinese into Old Japanese. Both languages have changed significantly since then, and in different ways. This has resulted in the respective pronunciations becoming more and more divergent over time.
 * 2) Middle Chinese had a much more complex syllable structure than Old Japanese, as well as many more vowel and consonant differences. Many sounds and sound combinations had to be approximated in the borrowing process, sometimes with significant differences (e.g. final  was represented as  or ).

Nonetheless, the correspondences between the two are fairly regular. As a result, Sino-Japanese can be viewed as a (transformed) "snapshot" of an archaic period of the Chinese language, and as a result is very important for comparative linguists as it provides a large amount of evidence for the reconstruction of Middle Chinese.

The following is a rough guide to equivalencies between modern Chinese words and modern Sino-Japanese on'yomi readings.

Unless otherwise noted, in the list below, sounds shown in quotation marks or italics indicate the usage of non-IPA romanization such as Hanyu pinyin for Mandarin Chinese and Hepburn romanization for Japanese. Symbols shown within slashes or square brackets, like or, are IPA transcriptions.

 * 1) A major sound-shift has occurred in Mandarin since the time of modern contact with the West. Namely, the sounds written in Pinyin as "g"  or "k", when immediately preceding an "i", "y" or "ü" sound, became "j" (, similar to English "j") or "q" (, similar to English "ch"). This change is called palatalization. As a result, Peking (北京) changed to Běijīng, and Chungking (重慶) to Chóngqìng. This shift did not occur in Sino-Japanese. Thus, Mandarin qì (氣, 'breath, air, spirit') corresponds to Japanese ki. In some other varieties of Chinese, it is still pronounced as 'ki'. For example, 氣 in Southern Min is khì (Pe̍h-ōe-jī romanization). This is similar to the way the Latin $⟨C⟩$, once always pronounced like an English $⟨K⟩$, became closer to an English $⟨CH⟩$ in Italian words where the $⟨C⟩$ is followed by an $⟨E⟩$ or $⟨I⟩$, changing centum  into cento.
 * 2) Old Japanese did not have an "-ng" or  syllable ending, which is very common in Chinese. This sound was borrowed as either /i/ or /u/. The combinations /au/ and /eu/ later became "ō" and "yō", respectively, in Japanese. Thus, the Mandarin reading of "Tokyo" (東京; Eastern (東) Capital (京)) is Dōngjīng; this corresponds to Japanese Tōkyō, with sound history for 京 being supposed approximately *kiæŋ -> kyau -> kyō (for comparison: Southern Min 京 (colloquial) is kiaⁿ with a nasal diphthong). Another example is 京城, former name for Seoul, which is Keijō in Japanese and Gyeongseong in Korean (which did and does have syllables ending in ). 京 is read "kei" (*kiæŋ -> kyei -> kei) in this case.
 * 3) As in the case of 京, the same character sometimes has multiple readings, e.g. "kyō" (Go-on) vs. "kei" (Kan-on) vs. "kin" (Tō-on). These stem from multiple phases of borrowing, which occurred at different times and from different source dialects and were carried out by different groups of people possibly speaking different dialects of Japanese. This means that the same word may have had different Chinese pronunciations, and even if not, the borrowers may have chosen different strategies to handle unfamiliar sounds. For example, the character 京 seems to have had an approximate pronunciation of /kjæŋ/ at the time of both the Go-on (5th - 6th century AD) and Kan-on (7th - 9th century AD) borrowings; however, the unfamiliar vowel /æ/ was represented by /a/ in the former case and /e/ in the latter. (This may also indicate different source pronunciations of the vowel.) In addition, the unfamiliar final  was represented by /u/ in the former case but /i/ in the latter, agreeing in frontness vs. backness with the main vowel. By the time of the Tō-on borrowing (post-10th century), the pronunciation in Chinese had changed to /kiŋ/, thus the pronunciation "kin" was decided as the closest approximation.
 * 4) The vowels of Chinese sometimes correspond to Sino-Japanese in an apparently haphazard fashion. However, Mandarin "ao" often corresponds to Japanese "ō" (usually derived from earlier Sino-Japanese [au]), and Chinese empty rime  (represented in pinyin with a "i") often corresponds to  (a different sound, also represented with a "i" in Hepburn) in Japanese.
 * 5) The distinction between voiced and unvoiced consonants ( vs.  or  vs. ) has been lost in modern Mandarin and many other varieties of Chinese. The key exception is in Wu dialects (呉語, e.g. Shanghainese). The Shanghainese voiced consonants match the Japanese  readings nearly perfectly in terms of voicing. For example, 葡萄 (grape) is pronounced "budo" in Shanghainese and "budō" (< "budau") in Japanese (preserving the voiced consonants [b] and [d]), but "pútáo" in Mandarin. Incidentally, the rising tone of the Mandarin syllables may reflect the earlier voiced quality of the initial consonants.
 * 6) In modern Mandarin, all syllables end either in a vowel or in one of a small number of consonant sounds: "n", "ng", or occasionally "r". However, Middle Chinese, like several modern Chinese dialects (e.g. Yue, Hakka, Min), allowed several other final consonants including, , , and , and these are preserved in Sino-Japanese (except for -m, which is replaced by -n, as in 三, san, "three"). However, because Japanese phonology does not allow these consonants to appear at the end of a syllable either, they are usually followed in Sino-Japanese by an additional "i" or "u" vowel, resulting in a second syllable (-tsu or -chi if from -t, -ku or -ki if from -k, and -pu if from -p, although -pu became -fu and then simply -u). As a result, a one-syllable word in Chinese can become two syllables in Sino-Japanese. For example, Mandarin tiě (铁, 'iron') corresponds to Japanese . This is still pronounced with a final  in Cantonese:  (Vietnamese thiết). Another example is Mandarin guó (國, 'land'), from Early Middle Chinese /kwək/, corresponding to Japanese koku.
 * 7) The consonant "f" in Mandarin corresponds to both "h" and "b" in Japanese. Early Middle Chinese had no /f/, but instead had /pj/ or /bj/ (in other reconstructions, or ). Japanese still reflects this ("h" was /p/ in Old Japanese). For example, Mandarin Fó (佛 'Buddha') corresponds to Japanese ; both reflect Early Middle Chinese /bjut/ from a still older form /but/. In modern Southern Min Chinese, this character may be pronounced either [put] or [hut] (colloquial and literary respectively).
 * 8) In addition, as in the previous example, Old Japanese /p/ became modern "h". When a Middle Chinese word ended in /p/, this produced further complications in Japanese. For example, Middle Chinese  'ten' (Standard Mandarin "shí", Cantonese ) was borrowed as Old Japanese /zipu/. In time this went through a series of changes: /zipu/ > /zihu/ > /ziu/ >  > "jū". Note that in some compounds, the word was directly borrowed as /zip-/ > "jip-"; hence "jippun" 'ten minutes' (or "juppun", influenced by "jū"), rather than "*jūfun".
 * 9) More complex is the archaic dento-labial nasal sound: The character 武 ('strife, martial arts') was pronounced "mvu" in Late Middle Chinese. The sound is approximated in the Japanese pronunciations "bu" and "mu". However, that sound no longer exists in most modern Chinese dialects, except Southern Min "bú", and the character 武 is pronounced "wǔ" in Mandarin,  in Cantonese, "vu" in Hakka, Shanghainese, and Vietnamese.
 * 10) The modern Mandarin initial "r" usually corresponds to "ny" or "ni" in Japanese. At the time of borrowing, characters such as 人 ('person') and 日 ('day'), which have an initial "r" sound in modern Mandarin, began with a palatal nasal consonant  closely approximating French and Italian gn and Spanish ñ. (This distinction is still preserved in some Chinese varieties, such as Hakka and Shanghainese, as well as Vietnamese.) Thus Mandarin Rìběn (日本, Japan) corresponds to Japanese Nippon. This is also why the character 人, pronounced  in Middle Chinese, is pronounced "nin" in some contexts, as in, and "jin" in others, such as — approximating its more modern pronunciation. In Wu dialects, including Shanghainese, 人 ('person') and 二 ('two') are still pronounced "nin" and "ni", respectively. In Southern Min (especially Zhangzhou accent), 人 is "jîn" (literary pronunciation) which is practically identical to Japanese On'yomi.
 * 11) In Middle Chinese, 五 ('five') and similar characters were pronounced with a velar nasal consonant, "ng" ([ŋ]), as its initial. This is no longer true in modern Mandarin, but it remains the case in other Chinese dialects such as Cantonese  and Shanghainese. Japanese approximates the Middle Chinese */ng/ with "g" or "go"; thus 五 becomes "go". In Southern Min, it is pronounced /gɔ/ (colloquial) or /ŋɔ/ (literary) while in the Fuzhou dialect it is pronounced "ngu". In addition, some Japanese dialects have [ŋ] for medial g.
 * 12) The Mandarin "hu" sound (as in "huá" or "huī") does not exist in Japanese and is usually omitted, whereas the Mandarin "l" sound becomes "r" in Japanese. Thus, Mandarin Huángbò (黄檗) corresponds to Japanese Ōbaku, and Rúlái (如来) and lamian (拉麵) to Nyorai and ramen respectively.
 * 13) Mandarin "h", usually from Middle Chinese  or  will often correspond to "k" or "g" in Japanese, as Old Japanese lacked velar fricatives: Modern Japanese  is derived from Old Japanese, which descended in most cases from a Proto-Japonic */p/; however, this lack of velar fricatives in Old Japanese helps preserve the voiced-voiceless contrast between Middle Chinese  and  that Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean and Vietnamese has lost. Mandarin "z" will often correspond to Japanese "j"; these are also changes in Chinese. Thus, Mandarin hànzì (漢字) corresponds to Japanese kanji, hànwén (漢文, Chinese written language) to kanbun, and zuìhòu (最後 'last') to saigo.

Chart of correspondences
Note:
 * MC: Middle Chinese
 * Pinyin: Modern Standard Chinese (Mandarin) in its official spelling. Multiple outcomes for MC initials (e.g. MC /ɡ/ > Pinyin g,j,k,q) are primarily due to two reasons:
 * MC voiced stops/affricates become Mandarin aspirated stops/affricates (p,t,k,etc.) when the syllable had the MC first tone (Mandarin first/second tones), unaspirated stops/affricates (b,d,g,etc.) otherwise.
 * Early Mandarin velar obstruents (g,k,h) and alveolar sibilants (z,c,s) become palatal obstruents (j,q,x) when a front vowel or glide followed.
 * Go:, from the Northern and Southern dynasties China or Baekje Korea during the 5th and 6th centuries. Go means Wu.
 * Kan:, from the Tang dynasty during the 7th to 9th century.
 * : Zen Buddhist borrowings from the Song dynasty (10th to 13th century) and after.

Initials:

Finals:

Examples
Notes:
 * Middle Chinese, Mandarin Pinyin, Go-on, Kan-on: See above.
 * Middle Chinese reconstruction is according to William H. Baxter. His phonetic notation is used, along with IPA when different. Syllables are tone 1 unless otherwise indicated. See An Etymological Dictionary of Common Chinese Characters for more info.

title: Sino-Japanese vocabulary