1.
voiceless sound; clear sound; unvoiced kana
In Japanese phonetics, the basic, unmarked kana syllables that have no voicing diacritic. Includes the sounds represented by か, さ, た, は, and other rows written without dakuten (゛) or handakuten (゜).
「か」は清音で、「が」は濁音です。
'Ka' is a voiceless sound, and 'ga' is a voiced sound.
清音と濁音を正しく区別することが大切だ。
It's important to correctly distinguish between voiceless and voiced sounds.
日本語の五十音表は清音を基本として構成されている。
The Japanese fifty-sounds chart is organized with voiceless sounds as the base.
A phonetics term composed of 清 (clear, pure) and 音 (sound). The name means 'clear/pure sounds' — referring to the basic kana without any voicing marks.
THE KANA SYSTEM:
Japanese kana fall into three phonetic categories:
- 清音: voiceless/clear sounds — the basic unmarked kana (あ, か, さ, た, な, は, ま, や, ら, わ rows)
- 濁音: voiced sounds — marked with 濁点 (゛): が, ざ, だ, ば
- 半濁音: semi-voiced sounds — marked with 半濁点 (゜): ぱ, ぴ, ぷ, ぺ, ぽ
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 清音と濁音: voiceless and voiced sounds (a common pair)
- 清音の発音: pronunciation of voiceless sounds
- 五十音の清音: the voiceless sounds of the fifty-sounds chart
SIMILAR WORDS:
- 濁音: voiced sounds — g, z, d, b sounds marked with 濁点 (゛)
- 半濁音: semi-voiced sounds — the p-sounds marked with 半濁点 (゜)
- 撥音: the nasal sound 'n' (ん)
NOTE:
Not to be confused with the homophone 静音 (quiet sound, silent operation), which uses different kanji.