Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "白" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce 白 in Japanese?

白 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ɕi.ɾo/. It means “white.” shi-ro, two short beats — a soft palatal hiss and then one tongue-tap.

shi-ro, two short beats — a soft palatal hiss and then one tongue-tap.

白 /ɕi.ɾo/

shiro

Beat for beat, shi and ro are twins, and the melody rises across them rather than falling. This word is a good partner to 黒 (kuro): both are two beats, both end in ro, and drilling them alternately builds a reliable feel for how short a Japanese two-mora noun actually is.

Listen: 白

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Sound it out

shi Softer and more palatal than English "she": the tongue blade approaches the hard palate rather than the tongue tip approaching the ridge, so the hiss is thinner and less forceful. The i is short.

ro The tap again — tongue tip up, touch, down — into a pure o. Two vowels, both short, and no lip rounding at any point.

Hear it in a sentence

雪は白いです。

Yuki wa shiroi desu.

Snow is white.

Listen: 雪は白いです。

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雪は白いです pairs it with 雪 (yu-ki), and both words come with a following adjective form. The example also shows the copular ending です in its usual devoiced state — "shiroi dess" — so you get the full arc from a clearly voiced beginning to a whispered end in one short sentence.

Where English speakers slip

English speakers reach for "SHEE-roh," stretching the first vowel and putting an English r in the middle. The hiss should be gentler than English sh, the i should be brief, and the r is one quick contact — closer to the tt of American "kitty" than to anything English writes with the letter r. Keep the final o from gliding into "oh-w."