Rendaku

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Rendaku (連濁, Japanese pronunciation: [ɾendakɯᵝ], lit. 'sequential voicing') is a phenomenon in Japanese morphophonology where the second (or non-initial) portion of a compound or prefixed word starts with a voiced consonant, even though the same morpheme starts with a voiceless consonant sound when used independently or as the first part of a compound. For example, kami (紙, paper) starts with the voiceless consonant /k/ when used as an independent word, but this is replaced with the voiced consonant /ɡ/ when this morpheme is used as the second portion of the compound word origami. In modern Japanese, rendaku is common but at times unpredictable, with certain words unaffected by it.

While kanji do not indicate rendaku, it is marked in kana with dakuten (voicing mark).