Basic Kanji question about "Dinner" 夕食

[richman3]

Hope this question is not too basic, I started learning Kanji just a few weeks ago, working on grade 1 and 2 kanjis plus some everydaylife kanjis I need here living in tokyo.

So we have the Kanji for evening: 夕 with On-reading セキ seki according to my flashcards and various online ressource like jisho.org.

We have 食 for meal with on-reading ショク shoku

Hence, as two Kanjis together are read with onyomi 夕食 should be セキショク sekishoku - right?
Obviously it is not, it is ゆうしょく yuushoku like kunreading of 夕 and onreading of 食.

Ehm - why?

I mean, I don't need an explanation for everything, if you just say: "basically you're right, but in this case it's just like it is, deal with it" then I am fine.
I just want to know if there is an underlying principle I didnt get or if this is just an exception.

Found also some exceptions where kunreading is used in compund kanjis for names like
Nakano - 中野 - where naka and no seems to be kunreading of 中 and 野, but I guess for names I shouldn't bother too much.

So what's about 夕食 any rules at work here ot just an exception?
Thanks

[RadioKid]

>"basically you're right, but in this case it's just like it is, deal with it"

That's it.

The only one phrase I can remember is "一朝一夕:Itchou Isseki;(within) One day" where "夕" is pronounced as "SEKI".

As you already know, there are KUN-read and ON-read and they are often mixed in use. ON-read is original Chinese pronounce at the moment of KANJIs imported when "呉:GO" dominated China. KUN-read is actually Japanese words corresponding the meaning of the KANJI.

As time goes, KANJIs are used in Japanese language and often mixed words are made for convenience. They are called as "重箱読み:JU-BAKO-YOMI;ON-KUN mixed" and "湯桶読み:YU-TOU-YOMI;KUN-ON mixed".

[richman3]

Okay thanks a lot for the quick response.