五十音(ごじゅうおん)

ごじゅうおん
noun
the Japanese syllabary; the fifty sounds
education
1. the Japanese syllabary; the fifty sounds; gojūon order
The systematic arrangement of Japanese kana characters in a grid of rows and columns. Also refers to the traditional ordering system used in dictionaries and indexes.
五十音(ごじゅうおん)順(じゅん)に並(なら)べる。
Arrange in gojūon (alphabetical) order.
子(こ)どもが五十音(ごじゅうおん)を覚(おぼ)え始(はじ)めた。
The child has started learning the Japanese syllabary.
辞書(じしょ)は五十音(ごじゅうおん)順(じゅん)で単語(たんご)が並(なら)んでいるので、読(よ)みがわかれば探(さが)しやすい。
Dictionaries list words in gojūon order, so they're easy to find if you know the reading.

Forms

五十(ごじゅう) (fifty) + 音(おん) (sound). Named for the approximately fifty basic kana sounds, though the actual number is 46 in modern usage.

Usage

The 五十音(ごじゅうおん)表(ひょう) (gojūon chart) arranges kana in a 5×10 grid with vowels (あいうえお) as columns and consonants as rows. 五十音(ごじゅうおん)順(じゅん) (gojūon order) is the Japanese equivalent of alphabetical order and is used in dictionaries, phone books, and indexes.

Common collocations

  • 五十音(ごじゅうおん)順(じゅん) (gojūon order, Japanese alphabetical order)
  • 五十音(ごじゅうおん)表(ひょう) (gojūon chart)
  • 五十音(ごじゅうおん)を覚(おぼ)える (to learn the syllabary)
general
Added 2026.3.7 18:00 · Revised 2026.9.2 13:01
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