Sunday, February 25, 2018

English Alphabet Letters in Katakana (List)

For reference, a list of the names of the English alphabet letters (ABC's) their respective katakanizations. Note that the pronunciation in romaji often doesn't match what you'd expect from English, since, well, it's not English, it's the romaji of the katakana.

See the Japanese alphabet, if you're looking for an overview of the Japanese characters.

The English alphabet letters in katakana: エイ, ビー, シー, ディー, イー, エフ, ジー, エイチ, アイ, ジェイ, ケイ, エル, エム, エヌ, オー, ピー, キュー, アール, エス, ティー, ユー, ヴィー, ダブリュー, エックス, ワイ, ゼッド

A
ei
エイ

B (bee)
bee, bii
ベー, ビー

C (cee)
shii, suii
シー, スィー

D (dee)
dhii, dee
ディー, デー

E
ii
イー

F (ef, eff)
efu
エフ

G (gee, jee)
jii
ジー

H (aitch)
eichi, ecchi
エイチ, エッチ
(ecchi usually means "lewd" in Japanese instead, as does the letter H.)

I (i)
ai
アイ

J (jay)
jei, jee
ジェイ, ジェー

K (kay)
kei, kee
ケイ, ケー

L (el, ell)
eru
エル

M (em)
emu
エム

N (en)
enu
エヌ

O (o)
oo
オー

P (pee)
pii
ピー

Q (cue)
kyuu
キュー

R (ar)
aaru
アール

S (ess)
esu
エス

T (tee)
thii, tee
ティー, テー

U (u)
yuu
ユー

V (vee)
vii, bui
ヴィー, ブィ

W (double-u)
daburyuu
ダブリュー
(sometimes means "double," daburu ダブル, see W prefix.)

X (ex)
ekkusu
エックス

Y (wy)
wai
ワイ

Z (zed, zee)
zeddo, zetto, zuii
ゼッド, ゼット, ズィー

Since we're here anyway, some extra terms:

  • arufabetto
    アルファベット
    Alphabet. (usually the Latin one, used in English.)
  • oomoji
    大文字
    "Big letters." Upper-case.
  • komoji
    小文字
    "Small letter." Lower-case.

See katakanized English numbers for the names of the numbers in English (one, two, three, etc.) and their respective katakanizations.

2 comments:

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  1. This is a cool resource! And helps with pronouncing English loan words.

    By the way, I think your カタカナ for Z is wrong in the diagram: ゼッド rather than ゼッオ

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're right, thanks. I've fixed it now.

      Delete