I was introduced to jisho.org a few days ago and I find it a really good tool to use while using the Heisig method to learn the readings as I learn the writing and understanding of kanji. I noticed 2 different symbols used when they present the kunyomi. So far I haven't seen them used in onyomi so I think they are not used in them. The "."(dot) and the "-"(dash). From what I gather I believe I got what they basically mean but please correct me if I'm wrong:
"." - the dot is used to show where the kanji stops and after it the following is written in kana. I think the trailing kana had a name but I really can't remember it now. Is this always the case? When I see a dot should I always assume it's only kana after it? Or can there be kanji as well in some compounds?
"-" - the dash is used to show that the word is allowed to form compounds only on the side where the dash is shown.
Take 一 for an example. Its 2 kun readings are: ひと-, ひと.つ so if I got this correctly:
一つ - this is how you write it according to the second reading.
Other thing I noticed is that there are times you can use a kanji instead of a trailing kana. I noticed this when I saw the other example compound on jisho 一月 Is this a common thing and does it have a term defining it so I can research further on my own?
一人 - this is really the only compound I could think of but the way I see it if the dash does what I think it does that means there will never be a compound word that has ひと somewhere elsewhere in the word apart from the beginning.
Answer
The upshot is that you should try to look at the explanatory notes of the dictionary you use and try not to get too attached to a particular notation. Knowing that kanji have a main reading, possibly with okurigana is usually all you need to know to make sense of a dictionary entry.
Here are some examples, which are frequently encountered:
KANJIDIC
The kanji search function on jisho.org uses KANJIDIC as its base. Indeed it looks as though the Western period
.is used to separate the reading of the kanji from its okurigana and the Western hyphen-is used to indicate possible readings in compounds.Official list of jōyō kanji
The official jōyō kanji list (PDF) published by the Agency of Cultural Affairs gives the readings as follows
(no
., no-).Wikipedia
Wikipedia uses a Western hyphen where KANJIDIC uses a Western period.
Monolingual dictionaries
Monolingual dictionaries usually list the word in kana and give kanji readings in brackets
【】, e.g. Daijirin hasひと つ [2] 【一つ】
where a space was used between the kanji reading and the okurigana.
Other dictionaries
The Shin Kanwa Daijiten uses the nakaguro to separate the different readings and uses
boldreadings andregularokurigana:【一】
イチ・イツ・ひと・ひとつ
As for compounds like 一月, these are either regular words (listed in a dictionary) or in this case [number]+[counter word], although you may also encounter other words like [word]+[suffix], of which only [word] and [suffix] are listed in the dictionary (and not the combination [word]+[suffix]).
As you suspected there are no okurigana for on'yomi. There are also no good rules for when which on'yomi gets read how, depending on position in a compound, so the notation . and - in KANJIDIC will only be used for kun'yomi.
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