Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "緑" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce 緑 in Japanese?

緑 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /mi.do.ɾi/. It means “green.” mi-do-ri, three even beats ending on a single tongue-tap. Nothing in it is stressed or stretched.

mi-do-ri, three even beats ending on a single tongue-tap. Nothing in it is stressed or stretched.

緑 /mi.do.ɾi/

midori

Set a steady pulse and the word fits exactly three of them. Standard Tokyo speech treats this as unaccented, so the pitch steps up after the first mora and stays there, keeping a following particle high too. Practically, that means no one syllable should stand out — the word should sound almost mechanically regular.

Listen: 緑

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Sound it out

mi Close the lips for the m, then a short tense i. Half the duration of English "me," and the vowel doesn't sag toward the lax i of "mitt."

do A dental d — tongue tip against the upper teeth — into a pure o that stays fixed instead of gliding toward w.

ri A single upward tap of the tongue tip on the ridge behind the teeth, followed by another short tense i. The tap is quick enough that some English ears hear a d here.

Hear it in a sentence

緑のシャツを買いました。

Midori no shatsu o kaimashita.

I bought a green shirt.

Listen: 緑のシャツを買いました。

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緑のシャツを買いました is useful because シャツ is a loanword written in katakana, and English speakers instinctively pronounce it as English "shirts." It isn't: sha-tsu, two morae, with つ as a single affricate. So the sentence pairs a native word with even morae against a borrowed one that tempts you back into English rhythm.

Where English speakers slip

The usual result is "mi-DOR-ee," with English stress on the middle, a genuine English r, and a long final vowel. All three need undoing. Keep the beats level, flick the tongue once for the ri instead of curling it back, and clip that last i so it doesn't ring on. The word ends quickly — it shouldn't have a tail.