出典:Wiktionary
出典:Wikipedia
出典:『Wikipedia』 (2011/06/06 11:01 UTC 版)
Okurigana (送り仮名 accompanying letters ) are kana suffixes following kanji stems in Japanese written words. They serve two purposes: to inflect adjectives and verbs, and to disambiguate kanji with multiple readings. Okurigana is only used for kun'yomi (native Japanese readings), not for on'yomi (Chinese readings) – Chinese morphemes do not inflect in Japanese, and their pronunciation is inferred from context, as many are used as parts of compound words (kango).