Help:IPA/Korean

This is the pronunciation key for IPA transcriptions of Korean on Wikipedia.

It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Korean in Wikipedia articles, and example words that illustrate the sounds that correspond to them. Integrity must be maintained between the key and the transcriptions that link here; do not change any symbol or value without establishing consensus on the talk page first.

For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

Shortcuts

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
IPA	Hangul	Hangul	RR	English approximation
b^[1]	ㅂ	이불	ibul	ball
β^[2]^[3]	ㅎ (ㅸ)	오후	ohu	roughly like away
ç^[4]	ㅎ	힘, 흉내	him, hyungnae	human
ɕ^[5]	ㅅ	시루	siru	roughly like she
ɕ͈^[5]	ㅆ ㅅ	씨, 국수	ssi, guksu	roughly like sure, tensed
d^[1]	ㄷ	민들레	mindeulle	doll
dz^[6]	ㅈ	나중	najung	beds
dʑ^[1]	ㅈ [ㄷ이]	아버지, 해돋이	abeoji, haedoji	roughly like jeans
ɸ^[3]	ㅎ [호] [후]	활, 훗날	hwal, hunnal	roughly like phew
ɡ^[1]	ㄱ	마개	magae	gall
ɣ^[2]^[7]	ㄱ	아가	aga	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, tensed
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(ㆁ) [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, tensed
pʰ	ㅍ [ㅂㅎ] [ㅎㅂ]	푸서리, 잡학	puseori, japhak	paint
ɾ	ㄹ [ㄹㅇ]	여드레, 얼음	yeodeure, eoreum	Scottish great or American atom
sʰ	ㅅ	수박	subak	like see, but aspirated (with more breath)
s͈	ㅆ	쌀, 열쇠	ssal, yeolsoe	saw, tensed
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, tensed
tʰ	ㅌ [ㄷㅎ] [ㅎㄷ]	구태여, 맞흥정, 닳다	gutaeyeo, matheungjeong, dalda	tall
ts^[6]	ㅈ	측정	cheukjeong	cats
ts͈^[6]	ㅉ	짤림	jjallim	cats, tensed
tsʰ^[6]	ㅊ [ㅈㅎ] [ㅎㅈ]	참새	chamsae	let's have
tɕ	ㅈ	자투리	jaturi	roughly like patch
tɕ͈	ㅉ	돌쩌귀, 꺽지	doljjeogwi, kkeokji	roughly like patch, tensed
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	Scottish loch
z^[17]	ㅿ (obsolete)	ᅀᅵᆫ간	zingan	zebra
ʔ	ㆆ (obsolete)	ᅙᅵᆯ	qil	uh-oh

Korean vowels and diphthongs^[18]
IPA	Hangul	Example		English approximation
IPA	Hangul	Hangul	RR^[19]	English approximation
a	ㅏ	하루	haru	GA lost
aː	ㅏ	밤	bam	spa
ɒ^[17]	ㆍ	ᄌᆞ주	jawju	yawn
ʌ	ㅓ	거울	geoul	Conservative up
əː	ㅓ	어른	eoreun	RP herd
ɛ	ㅐ	개구리	gaeguri	bet
ɛː	ㅐ	냇물	naenmul	GA bed
e	ㅔ	메주	meju	rate
eː	ㅔ	게장	gejang	raid
i	ㅢ^[20]	흰색	huinsaek	peak
i	ㅣ	피	pi	peak
iː	ㅣ	실타래	siltarae	bead
o	ㅗ	오늘	oneul	sort
oː	ㅗ	모레	more	sword
ø	ㅚ^[16]	쇠뇌	soenoe	wait
øː	ㅚ^[16]	왼손	oenson	weighed
u	ㅜ	우물	umul	root
uː	ㅜ	둘	dul	rude
ɯ	ㅡ	버들	beodeul	like goose for some speakers
ɯː	ㅡ	그림	geurim	like cool for some speakers
ɰi	ㅢ^[20]	민주주의	minjujuui	like we but unrounded (with relaxed lips)
y	ㅟ^[16]	귀엣말	gwienmal	somewhat like sweet
yː	ㅟ^[16]	쉰	swin	somewhat like swede

Korean suprasegmentals
IPA	Description
ː	Geminated consonant^[21]
ˈ	Primary stress (placed before the stressed syllable)
ˌ	Secondary stress (placed before the stressed syllable)
.	Syllable break

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d The plain stops and affricate /p t tɕ k/ are voiced to [b d dʑ ɡ] respectively between voiced sounds.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ㅎ is voiced between voiced sounds.
^ ^a ^b [ɸ] is the allophone of /h/ before /u/ or /w/.
^ ^a ^b [ç] is the allophone of /h/ before /i/ or /j/.
^ ^a ^b [ɕ ɕ͈] are the allophones of /s s͈/ before /i/ and /j/.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d [ts ts͈ tsʰ dz] occur in the North Korean dialect.
^ ^a ^b [x] is the allophone of /h/ before /ɯ/.
^ /j/ cannot be spelled by itself, but by doubling the short line on the vowel which it phonetically precedes.
^ ㄱ and ㅋ are [k̚] and RR k at the end of a syllable.
^ ㄹ is [ɭ] at the end of a syllable. ㄹㄴ and ㄴㄹ may be [ɭː].
^ ㅂ is [m] before /n/ or /m/.
^ ㄹ may be [n] at the start of a word. ㄷ, ㅅ, ㅈ are [n] before /n/ or /m/.
^ ㅇ is [ŋ] at the end of a syllable. ㄱ is [ŋ] before /n/, /m/, or /ɾ/.
^ ㅂ and ㅍ are [p̚] and RR p at the end of a syllable.
^ ㄷ, ㅌ, ㅅ, ㅈ, ㅊ are [t̚] and RR t at the end of a syllable.
^ ^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].
^ ^a ^b The sounds /z/ and /ɒ/ are no longer present in Modern Korean, and their respective symbols no longer pertain to the Hangeul Script in usage. However, /ɒ/ is still used for Jeju.
^ In Standard Korean, vowel length is contrastive, but this has mostly been lost in the spoken language.
^ Vowel length is not reflected in the romanization.
^ ^a ^b When ㅢ is preceded by anything but ㅇ, /ɰi/ is interchangeable with, or completely shifted to /i/.
^ Resulting from various sequences of consonants (and their relative transcriptions) in regressive assimilation.

[between_voiced-1] The plain stops and affricate /p t tɕ k/ are voiced to [b d dʑ ɡ] respectively between voiced sounds.

[h_between_voiced-2] ㅎ is voiced between voiced sounds.

[labialized_h-3] [ɸ] is the allophone of /h/ before /u/ or /w/.

[palatalized_h-4] [ç] is the allophone of /h/ before /i/ or /j/.

[palatalized_s-5] [ɕ ɕ͈] are the allophones of /s s͈/ before /i/ and /j/.

[back_affricates-6] [ts ts͈ tsʰ dz] occur in the North Korean dialect.

[velarized_h-7] [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.

[w-16] /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].

[unused_or_archaic-17] The sounds /z/ and /ɒ/ are no longer present in Modern Korean, and their respective symbols no longer pertain to the Hangeul Script in usage. However, /ɒ/ is still used for Jeju.

[18] In Standard Korean, vowel length is contrastive, but this has mostly been lost in the spoken language.

[19] Vowel length is not reflected in the romanization.

[not_word_initial_ui-20] When ㅢ is preceded by anything but ㅇ, /ɰi/ is interchangeable with, or completely shifted to /i/.

[21] Resulting from various sequences of consonants (and their relative transcriptions) in regressive assimilation.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

[21]