No (hiragana: ã®, katakana: ãÂÂ) are Japanese kana, both representing one mora. In the system of ordering of Japanese morae, it occupies the 25th position, between ã (ne) and 㯠(ha). It occupies the 26th position in the iroha ordering. Both represent the sound . The katakana form is written similar to the Kangxi radical , radical 4.
To write ã®, begin slightly above the center, stroke downward diagonally, then round upward and continue curve around, leaving a small gap at the bottom. To write ãÂÂ, simply do a swooping curve from top-right to bottom left.
The leftmost, predominantly vertical segment of the man'yà Âgana was used to create the katakana .
When the kanji is written in the highly cursive, flowing grass script style, it begins to resemble the hiragana .
Hentaigana and gyaru-moji variant kana forms of no can also be found.
ã® is a dental nasal consonant, articulated on the upper teeth, combined with a close-mid back rounded vowel to form one mora.
In the Japanese language, as well as forming words, ã® may be a particle showing possession. For example, the phrase "" means "my telephone".
ã® has also proliferated on signs and labels in the Chinese-speaking world. It is used in place of the Modern Chinese possessive marker de or Classical Chinese possessive marker zhë, and ã® is pronounced in the same way as the Chinese character it replaces. This is usually done to "stand out" or to give an "exotic/Japanese feel", e.g. in commercial brand names, such as the fruit juice brand , where the ã® can be read as both ä¹ zhë, the possessive marker, and as æ± zhë, meaning "juice". In Hong Kong, the Companies Registry has extended official recognition to this practice, and permits ã® to be used in Chinese names of registered businesses; it is thus the only non-Chinese symbol to be granted this treatment (aside from punctuation marks with no pronunciation value).