Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "寿司" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce 寿司 in Japanese?

寿司 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /sɯ̥.ɕi̥/. It means “sushi.” su-shi, two beats — both vowels typically devoice, so it comes out closer to "s'shi."

su-shi, two beats — both vowels typically devoice, so it comes out closer to "s'shi."

寿司 /sɯ̥.ɕi̥/

sushi

Two slots, both often voiceless. The word is a good test of whether you're timing or just hearing: a native 寿司 has almost no vowel in it, yet takes exactly as long as any other two-mora noun. English speakers who voice both vowels make it sound heavy and slow.

Listen: 寿司

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

Sound it out

su Crisp s with a u caught between silence and a voiceless sh — prime devoicing territory, so it usually survives as breath rather than voice.

shi A thinner, more palatal hiss than the s before it, and its i devoices too at the end of a word. Two different sibilants in two beats, both largely voiceless.

Hear it in a sentence

今晩は寿司を食べます。

Konban wa sushi o tabemasu.

Tonight I'm eating sushi.

Listen: 今晩は寿司を食べます。

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

今晩は寿司を食べます opens with 今晩 (ko-n-ba-n), four morae with two nasals — the first assimilating to an m before the b. So a word made mostly of hiss follows one made largely of hum, and both need their beats counted rather than heard.

Where English speakers slip

The English borrowing "SOO-shee" has two long rounded vowels and a stress peak; the Japanese word has neither. Spread the lips, let both vowels devoice, and keep the two beats equal. The s and sh are also different sounds here — the first tip-based, the second blade-based — and English speakers tend to make them identical.