Japanese Gojūon - Yōon

Japanese yōon (拗音) are syllables formed by combining i-row kana (き, し, ち, に, ひ, み, り, ぎ, じ, ぢ, び, ぴ) with small ya, yu, or yo, totaling 36. In the Japanese gojūon, yōon, along with seion, chōon, dakuon, and sokuon, form the complete pronunciation system. Yōon represent a combination of a consonant and a semivowel, pronounced with a quick transition to form a single syllable. Yōon are widely used in modern Japanese, especially in loanwords and Sino-Japanese readings. This page contains all yōon kana with detailed technical parameters and audio pronunciation to help you fully master the writing and meaning of hiragana yōon and katakana yōon.

📝 What are Hiragana Yōon? What do these characters mean?

Hiragana yōon are composed of two characters, such as きゃ (romaji kya, Unicode U+304D U+3083), しゅ (shu, U+3057 U+3085), ちょ (cho, U+3061 U+3087), etc. Common yōon combinations include きゃ, きゅ, きょ, しゃ, しゅ, しょ, ちゃ, ちゅ, ちょ, にゃ, にゅ, にょ, ひゃ, ひゅ, ひょ, みゃ, みゅ, みょ, りゃ, りゅ, りょ, etc. Additionally, voiced yōon include ぎゃ, ぎゅ, ぎょ, じゃ, じゅ, じょ, ぢゃ, ぢゅ, ぢょ, びゃ, びゅ, びょ, and semi-voiced yōon include ぴゃ, ぴゅ, ぴょ. When writing yōon, the small ya, yu, yo typically occupy half the size of a normal kana, which is an important marker distinguishing yōon from regular kana combinations. Each hiragana yōon corresponds to a specific pronunciation; for example, "きゃ" is read as "kya," representing the combination of the consonant k with the semivowel y and the vowel a. Its meaning is the pronunciation of the syllable itself, serving a phonetic function in vocabulary.

🔤 What are Katakana Yōon? How do they correspond to hiragana?

Katakana yōon correspond one-to-one with hiragana yōon, having the same pronunciation but different character forms. Katakana yōon are composed of full-size kana and small ャ, ュ, ョ, such as キャ (U+30AD U+30E3), シュ (U+30B7 U+30E5), チョ (U+30C1 U+30E7), etc. Katakana yōon are very common in loanwords, such as 「キャベツ」 (cabbage), 「シャワー」 (shower), 「チョコレート」 (chocolate), 「ニュース」 (news), 「ヒューズ」 (fuse), etc. In programming and typesetting, yōon require two Unicode code points for representation. Some fonts may not render small kana correctly; it is recommended to use professional Japanese fonts such as Noto Sans JP. Katakana yōon and hiragana yōon occupy the same pronunciation positions in the gojūon chart but are used in different contexts: katakana is mostly used for loanwords, onomatopoeia, and emphasis, while hiragana is used for native Japanese vocabulary and grammatical function words.

📌 Which characters are included in Yōon? Usage Notes

Yōon consist of 36 characters (syllables) in total, with 36 hiragana yōon and 36 katakana yōon, whose pronunciations correspond exactly. Specifically, they include: the きゃ row, しゃ row, ちゃ row, にゃ row, ひゃ row, みゃ row, りゃ row, as well as the corresponding voiced yōon (ぎゃ row, じゃ row, ぢゃ row, びゃ row) and semi-voiced yōon (ぴゃ row). First, yōon must be formed by i-row kana and small ya, yu, or yo; kana from other rows cannot form yōon. Second, small kana (ゃ, ゅ, ょ, ャ, ュ, ョ) have independent code points in Unicode and must not be confused with full-size kana. Third, yōon romaji follow the structure of consonant + semivowel + vowel, such as kya, shu, cho, etc. Fourth, when typing on a keyboard, entering the romaji usually automatically converts to yōon (e.g., typing "kya" produces "きゃ"). Fifth, voiced yōon and semi-voiced yōon also follow the combination rules, with Unicode encoding as a combination of two code points. In the Japanese gojūon chart, seion, chōon, dakuon, yōon, and sokuon are independent and should be distinguished when learning. Mastering yōon is crucial for correct pronunciation and spelling of Japanese vocabulary.

💡 Usage Tips

Click any yōon card above to view detailed information and copy Unicode, romaji, HTML entities, or LaTeX commands with one click. Each yōon kana supports audio playback and can be downloaded as a 512×512 pixel transparent background PNG image. In web development, it is recommended to use UTF-8 encoding and specify a Japanese font (such as Noto Sans JP) to ensure yōon display correctly. To input yōon, simply type the corresponding romaji using a romaji input method. This page covers both hiragana and katakana for convenient comparison and learning, serving as a quick tool for looking up the gojūon chart and yōon pronunciation.