The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Korean language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. It is based on the standard dialect of South Korea and may not represent some of the sounds in the North Korean dialect or in other dialects. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

See Korean phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of Korean.

Korean consonants
IPA Hangul Example English approximation
Hangul RR
b[1] ㅂ 이불 ibul ball
βʷ[2][3] ㅎ 오후 ohu roughly like upvote
ç[4] ㅎ 힘, 흉내 him, hyungnae human
ɕ[5] ㅅ 시루 siru roughly like she
ɕ͈[5] ㅆ ㅅ 씨, 국수 ssi, guksu seen
d[1] ㄷ 민들레 mindeulle doll
dz[6] ㅈ 나중 najung beds
dʑ[1] ㅈ [ㄷ이] 아버지, 해돋이 abeoji, haedoji roughly like gee
ɸʷ[3] ㅎ [호] [후] 활, 훗날 hwal, hunnal roughly like who
ɡ[1] ㄱ 마개 magae gall
ɣ[2][7] ㄱ 아가 aga Spanish amigo or again, but without the tongue touching the roof of the mouth
h ㅎ 햇잎 haennip hall
ɦ[2] ㅎ 마흔 maheun RP behind
j [ㅛ, ㅠ,ㅑ,ㅕ,
ㅖ, ㅒ][8]		 여울 yeoul you
ʝ[2][4] ㅎ 감히 gamhi roughly like you
k ㄱ 구이 gui sky
k̚ ㄱ ㅋ[9] 바지락 bajirak lock
k͈ ㄲ 꿩, 젓갈 kkwong, jeotgal skin
kʰ ㅋ [ㄱㅎ] [ㅎㄱ] 코, 석회, 않기 ko, seokhoe, angi cup
ɭ ㄹ [ㄴ][10] 알, 신라 al, Silla hall
m ㅁ [ㅂ][11] 못, 압력 mot, amnyeok mall
n ㄴ
[ㄹ, ㄷ, ㅅ, ㅈ][12]		 누리 nuri not
ŋ ㅇ [ㄱ][13] 가랑비, 먹물 garangbi, meongmul king
p ㅂ 바다 bada spa
p̚ ㅂ ㅍ [14] 부삽, 잎 busap, ip clip
p͈ ㅃ ㅂ 뿔, 먹보 ppul, meokbo spit
pʰ ㅍ [ㅂㅎ] [ㅎㅂ] 푸서리, 잡학 puseori, japhak paint
ɾ ㄹ [ㄹㅇ] 여드레, 얼음 yeodeure, eoreum Scottish great or American atom
s ㅅ 수박 subak like see, but aspirated (with more breath)
s͈ ㅆ 쌀, 열쇠 ssal, yeolsoe saw
t ㄷ 돌 dol star
t̚ ㄷ, ㅌ, ㅅ, ㅈ, ㅊ[15] 곧, 뭍, 옷, 젖, 낯 got, mut, ot, jeot, nat let
t͈ ㄸ ㄷ 떡, 막대 tteok, makdae stall
tʰ ㅌ [ㄷㅎ] [ㅎㄷ] 구태여, 맞흥정, 닳다 gutaeyeo, matheungjeong, dalda tall
ts[6] ㅈ 측정 cheukjeong cats
ts͈[6] ㅉ 짤림 jjallim
tsʰ[6] ㅊ [ㅈㅎ] [ㅎㅈ] 참새 chamsae let's have
tɕ ㅈ 자투리 jaturi roughly like patch
tɕ͈ ㅉ 돌쩌귀, 꺽지 doljjeogwi, kkeokji
tɕʰ ㅊ [ㄷ히] [ㅎㅈ] 눈초리, 맞히다, 닳지 nunchori, machida, dalji roughly like cheek
w [ㅙ, ㅞ][16] 왜가리, 꿰맴질 waegari, kkwemaemjil wall
x[7] ㅎ 흙 heuk loch
z ㅿ ᅀᅵᆫ간 zingan zebra
Korean vowels and diphthongs[17]
IPA Hangul Example English approximation
Hangul RR[18]
a ㅏ 하루 haru up
aː 밤 bam spa
ɒ ㆍ ᄌᆞ미나게 jawminage yawn
ʌ ㅓ 거울 geoul Conservative up
əː 어른 eoreun RP herd
ɛ ㅐ 개구리 gaeguri bet
ɛː 냇물 naenmul GA bed
e ㅔ 메주 meju rate
eː 게장 gejang raid
i ㅣ 피 pi beat
iː 실타래 siltarae bead
o ㅗ 오늘 oneul sort
oː 모레 more sword
ø ㅚ[16] 쇠뇌 soenoe wet
øː 왼손 oenson wed
u ㅜ 우물 umul root
uː 둘 dul rude
ɯ ㅡ 버들 beodeul foot
ɯː 그림 geurim good
ɰi ㅢ 흰색 huinsaek somewhat like we
y ㅟ[16] 귀엣말 gwienmal somewhat like sweet
yː 쉰 swin somewhat like swede
Korean suprasegmentals
IPA Description
ː Geminated consonant[19]
ˈ Primary stress (placed before the stressed syllable)
ˌ Secondary stress (placed before the stressed syllable)
. Syllable break

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d The plain stops and affricate /p t tɕ k/ are voiced to [b d dʑ ɡ] respectively between voiced sounds.
  2. ^ a b c d ㅎ is voiced between voiced sounds.
  3. ^ a b [ɸʷ] is the allophone of /h/ before /u/ or /w/.
  4. ^ a b [ç] is the allophone of /h/ before /i/ or /j/.
  5. ^ a b [ɕ ɕ͈] are the allophones of /s s͈/ before /i/ and /j/.
  6. ^ a b c d [ts ts͈ tsʰ dz] occur in the North Korean dialect.
  7. ^ a b [x] is the allophone of /h/ before /ɯ/.
  8. ^ /j/ cannot be spelled by itself, but by doubling the short line on the vowel which it phonetically precedes.
  9. ^ ㄱ and ㅋ are k̚ and RR k at the end of a syllable.
  10. ^ ㄹ is [ɭ] at the end of a syllable. ㄹㄴ and ㄴㄹ may be [ɭː].
  11. ^ ㅂ is [m] before /n/ or /m/.
  12. ^ ㄹ may be [n] at the start of a word. ㄷ, ㅅ, ㅈ are [n] before /n/ or /m/.
  13. ^ ㅇ is [ŋ] at the end of a syllable. ㄱ is [ŋ] before /n/, /m/, or /ɾ/.
  14. ^ ㅂ and ㅍ are [p̚] and RR p at the end of a syllable.
  15. ^ ㄷ, ㅌ, ㅅ, ㅈ, ㅊ are t̚ and RR t at the end of a syllable.
  16. ^ a b c /w/ is spelled ㅜ before /ʌ/, /e/, /i/ (the latter combination producing /y/~[ɥi]) and ㅗ before /ɛ/, /a/; ㅚ /ø/ can also be pronounced [we].
  17. ^ In Standard Korean, vowel length is contrastive, but this has mostly been lost in the spoken language.
  18. ^ Vowel length is not reflected in the romanization.
  19. ^ Resulting from various sequences of consonants (and their relative transcriptions) in regressive assimilation.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Comparisons
Introductory guides
Category