Yōon

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Yōon or Youon (拗音) is a feature of the Japanese language in which a mora is formed with an added y sound.

Yōon is represented in hiragana using a kana ending in i, such as き (ki), plus a smaller-than-usual version of one of the three y kana, ya, yu or yo. For example kyō, "today", is written きょう, using a small version of the yo kana, よ. Contrast this with kiyō, "skillful", which is written きよう, with a full-sized yo kana. In the past, in historical kana usage, yōon was not distinguished with the smaller kana, and had to be guessed by context.

Most of the words which now use yōon were originally derived from Chinese. The ancient version of Japanese did not have any yōon sounds. It is theorised that yōon developed because of the influence of the Chinese words.

[edit] Table

	ゃ ya	ゅ yu	ょ yo
k	キャ kya	キュ kyu	キョ kyo
sh	シャ sha	シュ shu	ショ sho
ch	チャ cha	チュ chu	チョ cho
n	ニャ nya	ニュ nyu	ニョ nyo
h	ヒャ hya	ヒュ hyu	ヒョ hyo
m	ミャ mya	ミュ myu	ミョ myo
r	リャ rya	リュ ryu	リョ ryo
dakuten
g	ギャ gya	ギュ gyu	ギョ gyo
j	ジャ ja	ジュ ju	ジョ jo
b	ビャ bya	ビュ byu	ビョ byo
p	ピャ pya	ピュ pyu	ピョ pyo