NYANYUNYO Hiragana Flashcards — Printable, Front and Back

Free Printable Hiragana Flashcards for Beginners

These NYANYUNYO hiragana flashcards drill the fourth set of yōon combined kana — に plus a small ゃ, ゅ, or ょ. Like all yōon, these form a single syllable (nya, nyu, nyo), not two. The /ny/ sound is the palatalized version of /n/ — it's the same start as the English word "new" (especially in British English) or the Spanish ñ.

You get double-sided flashcards printed on letter-size paper (8.5 × 11 inches). The front of each card shows the Japanese word in hiragana; the back shows the English meaning plus the romaji reading. The NY combined kana unlock 入学 (nyuugaku, "school entrance"), 入院 (nyuuin, "hospital admission"), 蒟蒻 (konnyaku, the jelly food), and the universal Japanese cat sound にゃー (nyaa) — equivalent to English "meow".

What's on each card?

• Front: the Japanese word written in large hiragana, with the romaji pronunciation below.
• Back: the English meaning, mirrored so it lines up with the front when you print double-sided.
• Subtle StudyHiragana.com watermark on each card so the deck stays branded after cutting.

How to print and assemble

• Click the Print button above (or press Ctrl/Cmd + P).
• Choose two-sided printing and flip on the long edge — this keeps front and back aligned.
• Use standard 8.5" × 11" letter paper. Card stock works too if you want sturdier cards.
• Cut along the dashed lines to separate the six cards on each sheet.
• Optional: laminate the cards for longer life.

How to study with hiragana flashcards

The point of beginner hiragana flashcards isn't just memorising characters — it's connecting them to real vocabulary the moment you learn them. Use the deck this way:

• Hold a card so only the front (hiragana) is visible. Read it aloud and try to recall the meaning.
• Flip the card to check. If you got it right, set it in a "knew it" pile; if not, return it to the deck.
• Shuffle and repeat until the "didn't know it" pile is empty.
• Switch directions: look at the English meaning and try to recall the hiragana spelling. This is harder but builds active recall.

Why NY combined kana matter

The NY yōon group is smaller in everyday usage than CH or SH, but plays a critical role in school and medical vocabulary. にゃ appears mostly in onomatopoeia — にゃー (nyaa, the cat sound "meow"), にゃんにゃん (nyan-nyan, baby-talk for cat) — and in 蒟蒻 (konnyaku, the chewy jelly food made from yam). にゅ shows up in 入学 (nyuugaku, "entering a school"), 入院 (nyuuin, "hospital admission"), 入門 (nyuumon, "introduction / primer"), 牛乳 (gyuunyuu, "milk" — pairs にゅう with the dakuten ぎゅ). にょ is rarer but appears in 女房 (nyoubou, archaic "wife") and 如来 (nyorai, a Buddhist term for an enlightened being). A core takeaway: 〜にゅう words are extremely common in compounds about "entering" something.

Keep practising

After you've mastered these NYANYUNYO flashcards, deepen your hiragana skills with our other free tools:

• Interactive にゃにゅにょ guide — pronunciation, stroke order, and a writing canvas to practice each character.
• Printable hiragana flashcards by character — single-character flashcard sheets for each row of the chart.
• Full hiragana chart — all 46 basic hiragana characters at a glance.
• StudyHiragana.com home — interactive practice with stroke order, recall games, and spaced repetition.