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It is a phonetic lettering system. The word hiragana means "common" or "plain" kana (originally also "easy", as contrasted with kanji). [1] [2] [3] Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems. With few exceptions, each mora in the Japanese language is represented by one character (or one digraph) in each system.
Katakana (片仮名、カタカナ, IPA: [katakaꜜna, kataꜜkana]) is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, [2] kanji and in some cases the Latin script (known as rōmaji).
The modern Japanese writing system uses a combination of logographic kanji, which are adopted Chinese characters, and syllabic kana.Kana itself consists of a pair of syllabaries: hiragana, used primarily for native or naturalized Japanese words and grammatical elements; and katakana, used primarily for foreign words and names, loanwords, onomatopoeia, scientific names, and sometimes for emphasis.
The difference in usage between hiragana and katakana is stylistic. Usually, hiragana is the default syllabary, and katakana is used in certain special cases. Hiragana is used to write native Japanese words with no kanji representation (or whose kanji is thought obscure or difficult), as well as grammatical elements such as particles and ...
Alternatively, on some keyboards, pressing the muhenkan (無変換, "no conversion") button switches between katakana and hiragana. Operation of a typical IME Sophisticated kana to kanji converters (known collectively as input method editors , or IMEs), allow conversion of multiple kana words into kanji at once, freeing the user from having to ...
In each entry, the top entry is the hiragana, the second entry is the corresponding katakana, the third entry is the Hepburn romanization of the kana, and the fourth entry is the pronunciation written in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Please see Japanese phonology for more details on the individual sounds.
The hiragana is written in three strokes, while the katakana in two. Both represent /ni/ although for phonological reasons, the actual pronunciation is [ɲi]. Notably, the katakana (ニ) is functionally identical to the kanji for two (二), pronounced the same way, and written similarly.
The hiragana ゑ is made with one stroke. It resembles a hiragana る that continues with a double-humped ん shape underneath. The katakana ヱ is made with three strokes: A horizontal line that hooks down and to the left. A vertical line, just grazing the end of the first stroke. A long horizontal line across the bottom.