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A (kana)

(hiragana: , katakana: ) is a Japanese kana that represents the mora consisting of single vowel . The hiragana character is based on the sōsho style of kanji , while the katakana is from the radical of kanji . In the modern Japanese system of alphabetical order, it occupies the first position of the alphabet, before . Additionally, it is the 36th letter in Iroha, after , before . The Unicode for is U+3042, and the Unicode for is U+30A2.

Derivation

The katakana derives, via , from the left element of kanji . The hiragana derives from cursive simplification of the kanji .

Variant forms

Scaled-down versions of the kana (, ) are used to express sounds foreign to the Japanese language, such as . In some Okinawan writing systems, a small is also combined with the kana () and ( or ) to form the digraphs () and (), although others use a small instead. In , a variant of is appeared with a stroke written exactly as . The version of the kana with (, ) are used to represent either a gurgling sound, a voiced pharyngeal fricative (), or other similarly articulated sound.

Stroke order

The hiragana is made with three strokes:

  1. At the top, a horizontal stroke from left to right.
  2. A downward vertical stroke starting above and in the center of the last stroke.
  3. At the bottom, a loop like the hiragana .

The katakana is made with two strokes:

  1. At the top, a stroke consisting of a horizontal line and a short horizontal line proceeding downward and to the left.
  2. Starting at the end of the last stroke, a curved line proceeding downward and to the left.

Other communicative representations

  • Full braille representation

When lengthening "" morae in Japanese braille, a is always used, as in standard katakana usage instead of adding an / .

Footnotes

References