半濁音(はんだくおん)

A Japanese phonetics term composed of 半(はん) (half/semi), 濁(だく) (voicing), and 音(おん) (sound). The name literally means 'half-voiced sound,' reflecting the historical analysis that p-sounds were considered intermediate between the voiceless h-sounds (清音(せいおん)) and the voiced b-sounds (濁音(だくおん)).

The kana system

Japanese kana are organized into three phonetic categories:

• 清音(せいおん): voiceless/clear sounds — the basic kana (か, さ, た, は, etc.)
• 濁音(だくおん): voiced sounds — marked with 濁点(だくてん) (゛): が, ざ, だ, ば
• 半濁音(はんだくおん): semi-voiced sounds — marked with 半濁点(はんだくてん) (゜): ぱ, ぴ, ぷ, ぺ, ぽ

Common collocations

• 半濁音(はんだくおん)の発音(はつおん): pronunciation of semi-voiced sounds
• 半濁点(はんだくてん): the circle diacritic mark (゜)
• は行(ぎょう)の半濁音(はんだくおん): the semi-voiced sounds of the ha-row

Similar words

• 濁音(だくおん): voiced sounds — b, d, g, z sounds marked with 濁点(だくてん) (゛)
• 清音(せいおん): voiceless/clear sounds — the basic unmarked kana
• 撥音(はつおん): the nasal sound 'n' (ん)
• 拗音(ようおん): contracted sounds — small や, ゆ, よ combinations (きゃ, しゅ, ちょ, etc.)