Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "牛" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce 牛 in Japanese?

牛 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ɯ.ɕi̥/. It means “cow.” u-shi, two beats — an unrounded opening vowel and a final i that usually whispers.

u-shi, two beats — an unrounded opening vowel and a final i that usually whispers.

牛 /ɯ.ɕi̥/

ushi

Two beats, and in ordinary speech both can be largely voiceless — which makes the word an extreme case. The timing is unchanged: two counts, whether or not there's much to hear in them.

Listen: 牛

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Sound it out

u An unrounded u starting the word, lips flat. Before a voiceless sh it can lighten considerably, so the word may open on almost nothing.

shi A whispery sh made with the tongue blade, and an i that devoices at the end of a word — leaving essentially pure friction.

Hear it in a sentence

牛が草を食べています。

Ushi ga kusa o tabete imasu.

The cow is eating grass.

Listen: 牛が草を食べています。

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

牛が草を食べています has 草 (ku-sa), whose first vowel also devoices between voiceless sounds. So the sentence contains three whispered vowels in its first few words, and then 食べています runs six fully-voiced beats — a striking shift in texture.

Where English speakers slip

"OO-shee" rounds the first vowel, stresses it, and fully voices a lengthened second. Spread the lips, let both vowels lighten, and keep the two beats matched. An over-voiced 牛 sounds like the word is being spelled out rather than spoken.