Help:IPA for Cantonese

The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Cantonese pronunciations in Wikipedia articles.

See Cantonese phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of Cantonese Chinese. Please note that English equivalents given in this page may only represent very approximate sounds to the original pronunciations.

IPA Yale Jyutping Chinese English approximation Consonants f f 風 fan h h 客 house j y j 月 you k g-, -k 角 scan kʰ k 卡 can kʷ gw 瓜 squeak kʷʰ kw 誇 quick l l 落 leaf m m 莫 moon n n 男 noon ŋ ng 牙 singing p b-, -p 班 span pʰ p 拍 pan s s 西 saw t d-, -t 達 stand tʰ t 拖 tan ts j z 將 cats tsʰ ch c 鏘 cats hissing w w 活 water Syllabic consonants m̩ m 唔 mmm ŋ̍ ng 五 (syllabic ng) All of these consonants may begin a syllable, though some speakers do not have /n, ŋ/. In addition, /p, t, k, m, n, ŋ/ may end one.

IPA Yale Jyutping Chinese English approximation Vowels and diphthongs aː aa-, a aa 亞 father (Australian English) aːi aai 界 time aːu aau 交 how ɐ a 甩 cut ɐi ai 矮 kite (short) ɐu au 歐 house (short) ei ei 悲 hey ɛː e 些 yes ɛːu — eu 掉 roughly like yeah well e i 色 sick iː 意 see iːu iu 橋 roughly like few ou ou 奧 hoe (American English) ɔː o 我 law ɔːy oi 哀 boy œː eu oe 靴 roughly like fur in British English; fleuve in French ɵ eo 出 roughly like again, but it's rounded ɵy eui eoi 去 No English equivalent; like neutre in Quebec French o u 福 look uː 烏 food uːy ui 回 roughly like phooey; almost like nouille in French yː yu 於 No English equivalent; menu in French IPA Yale Jyutping Chinese Description Tones sí sī si1 思 high level: si˥˥ sî sì high falling: si˥˧ sǐ sí si2 史 mid rising: si˧˥ sī si si3 試 mid level: si˧˧ si̭ sȉ sìh si4 時 low falling: si˨˩ or very low: si˩˩ si̬ síh si5 市 low rising: si˨˧ sì sih si6 是 low level: si˨˨ bít bīt bit1 必 high checked: pit˥ sīt sit sit3 薛 mid checked: sit˧ sìt siht sit6 舌 low checked: sit˨