Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "低い" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce 低い in Japanese?

低い is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /çi.kɯ.i/. It means “low.” hi-ku-i, three beats — a palatal h at the start and two more beats that stay distinct.

hi-ku-i, three beats — a palatal h at the start and two more beats that stay distinct.

低い /çi.kɯ.i/

hikui

No beat is favoured, and the crest lands on ku. The word's structure — palatal h, then a k, then a bare vowel — leaves very little sonority to hang the rhythm on, so it's easy to compress. Count all three beats deliberately.

Listen: 低い

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Sound it out

hi The h before i is palatal, with the friction against the hard palate rather than in the throat — closer to the start of English "hue" than to "he." In this position it can also devoice the vowel.

ku Quiet k, then the unrounded u. Because a vowel follows, this u usually keeps its voicing rather than whispering away.

i An i with nothing in front of it, holding a full beat off the back of the u. Two high vowels in a row, so both need clear, distinct articulation.

Hear it in a sentence

このテーブルは低いです。

Kono teeburu wa hikui desu.

This table is low.

Listen: このテーブルは低いです。

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このテーブルは低いです opens with テーブル, four morae (te-e-bu-ru) with a long first vowel and a tap at the end. English "table" is two syllables; the Japanese loan is four beats, and its length makes the three short beats of 低い that follow sound brisk by comparison.

Where English speakers slip

"HEE-koo-ee" gets three things wrong: a plain rather than palatal h, a rounded u, and a stretched final vowel with English stress somewhere in front. Raise the friction to the palate, spread the lips for the u, and clip the closing i. The palatal h is the least obvious of these and the one that most marks a learner's accent.