Yōon: combination kana

Yōon (拗音) are syllables written with two kana: an i-row kana such as き, し or ち, followed by a small ゃ, ゅ or ょ. The pair is read as one syllable: きゃ is kya, not ki-ya.

Practise yōon free

Hiragana yōon

The 33 hiragana combinations
	+ ya	+ yu	+ yo
き	きゃkya	きゅkyu	きょkyo
し	しゃsha	しゅshu	しょsho
ち	ちゃcha	ちゅchu	ちょcho
に	にゃnya	にゅnyu	にょnyo
ひ	ひゃhya	ひゅhyu	ひょhyo
み	みゃmya	みゅmyu	みょmyo
り	りゃrya	りゅryu	りょryo
ぎ	ぎゃgya	ぎゅgyu	ぎょgyo
じ	じゃja	じゅju	じょjo
び	びゃbya	びゅbyu	びょbyo
ぴ	ぴゃpya	ぴゅpyu	ぴょpyo

Small or big? The word changes

Word	Romaji	Meaning
びょういん	byōin	hospital
びよういん	biyōin	beauty salon
きゃく	kyaku	guest, customer
きやく	kiyaku	rules, terms

The small ゃ merges with the kana before it into one mora (beat); a full-size や is a syllable of its own.

How yōon works

The first kana is always from the i row: きしちにひみりぎじびぴ.
The small kana is written at about half size — in the lower left of its square in horizontal writing, the upper right in vertical writing.
しゃ, ちゃ and じゃ are spelled sha, cha and ja, the way they sound.

Words with yōon: とうきょう (Tōkyō), かいしゃ (kaisha, “company”), おちゃ (ocha, “tea”), ひゃく (hyaku, “hundred”), ぎゅうにゅう (gyūnyū, “milk”).

Katakana yōon

Katakana uses ャ, ュ and ョ the same way: ニュース (nyūsu, “news”), シャツ (shatsu, “shirt”).

The 33 katakana combinations
	+ ya	+ yu	+ yo
キ	キャkya	キュkyu	キョkyo
シ	シャsha	シュshu	ショsho
チ	チャcha	チュchu	チョcho
ニ	ニャnya	ニュnyu	ニョnyo
ヒ	ヒャhya	ヒュhyu	ヒョhyo
ミ	ミャmya	ミュmyu	ミョmyo
リ	リャrya	リュryu	リョryo
ギ	ギャgya	ギュgyu	ギョgyo
ジ	ジャja	ジュju	ジョjo
ビ	ビャbya	ビュbyu	ビョbyo
ピ	ピャpya	ピュpyu	ピョpyo

Frequently asked questions

How many yōon are there?

33 in common use: 11 rows of three, from kya to pya. ぢゃ, ぢゅ and ぢょ also exist but are very rare.

Is きゃ one syllable or two?

One. きゃ is a single mora (beat), while きや, with a full-size や, is two.

Why is しゃ written sha and not sya?

Hepburn romaji spells yōon the way they sound: しゃ is sha, ちゃ is cha, じゃ is ja. Kunrei-shiki writes sya, tya and zya.