How do you pronounce 계?

계 is read [계/게], not the way it is spelled. It is romanized gye.

Why does 계 play the recording of 계?

Because the standard defines them as the same sound. Rather than leave the cell silent, it plays the 계 recording and says so.

계

계 — gye

pronounced [계/게]

계 is written with ㄱ and ㅖ, but the standard reads it [계/게] — not the way it is spelled. It is romanized gye. The recording below is of 계, which the standard defines as the same sound.

Frequency: common — it appears at or above the median frequency in the teaching material behind this site. The boundary is the median of the cells that appear at all, which works out at 21 occurrences.

The rules that decide this

Standard Korean Pronunciation, Article 5, Proviso 2

Apart from 예 and 례, ㅖ may also be pronounced [ㅔ].

'예, 례' 이외의 'ㅖ'는 [ㅔ]로도 발음한다.

Gives 계, 폐 and the rest a second permitted reading — [계] or [게]. 예 and 례 are excluded and keep one reading.

All the rules this site follows

How this block is put together

ㄱ + ㅖ — the vowel stands to the right of the consonant.

The two letters

ㄱ (giyeok)

/k/, [ɡ] between voiced sounds

between the g in go and the k in skin

ㅖ

/je/

the ye in yes

Words containing 계

계단
stairs

경계boundary
계보genealogy
계산payment
계약contract
계획plan

Nearby in the chart

Same consonant (ㄱ)

Same vowel (ㅖ)

Questions people ask

How do you pronounce 계?: 계 is read [계/게], not the way it is spelled. It is romanized gye.
Why does 계 play the recording of 계?: Because the standard defines them as the same sound. Rather than leave the cell silent, it plays the 계 recording and says so.