Korean · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "초록색" in Korean?

Q: How do you pronounce 초록색 in Korean?

초록색 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /tɕʰo.ɾok̚.s͈ɛk̚/. It means “green (color).” cho-rok-ssaek. The ㄱ ending 록 forces the following ㅅ into a tensed ㅆ, so the final block sounds much harder than the spelling suggests.

cho-rok-ssaek. The ㄱ ending 록 forces the following ㅅ into a tensed ㅆ, so the final block sounds much harder than the spelling suggests.

초록색 /tɕʰo.ɾok̚.s͈ɛk̚/

choroksaek

Three flat beats with a held silence where the ㄱ closure sits. The rule on display is post-obstruent tensing, applying here across a morpheme boundary inside a single word: the 색 is the same one in 빨간색, but its consonant hardens because of what precedes it.

Listen: 초록색

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Sound it out

cho Aspirated ㅊ with a clear puff, then a rounded 'oh'. Push the lips genuinely forward for ㅗ.

rok Tapped ㄹ, another rounded vowel, and an unreleased ㄱ that closes the syllable in silence.

ssaek Written with a plain ㅅ but pronounced as tensed ㅆ, because a stop batchim sits immediately before it. Throat tight, hissing hard, no breath at all.

Hear it in a sentence

이 우산은 초록색이에요.

I usaneun choroksaegieyo.

This umbrella is green.

Listen: 이 우산은 초록색이에요.

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

이 우산은 초록색이에요 releases that trapped ㄱ at last -- with 이에요 attached it hops forward and voices, giving cho-rok-ssae-gi-e-yo. One word therefore carries both a tensed ㅆ and a resyllabified g in the same breath.

Where English speakers slip

Reading the spelling literally gives 'cho-rok-saek' with a soft s, which sounds slack to a Korean ear; the ㅅ has to tense after that k. Beginners also flatten both ㅗ vowels into 'uh', when 초 and 록 each need properly rounded lips or the word starts blurring toward shapes built on ㅓ.