See also: and

U+30EB, ル
KATAKANA LETTER RU

[U+30EA]
Katakana
[U+30EC]
U+32F8, ㋸
CIRCLED KATAKANA RU

[U+32F7]
Enclosed CJK Letters and Months
[U+32F9]
U+FF99, ル
HALFWIDTH KATAKANA LETTER RU

[U+FF98]
Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms
[U+FF9A]

Japanese

Stroke order

Etymology

Simplified in the Heian period from the man'yōgana kanji .

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ɾɯ̟ᵝ]
  • (file)

Syllable

(romaji ru)

  1. The katakana syllable (ru). Its equivalent in hiragana is (ru). It is the forty-first syllable in the gojūon order; its position is (ra-gyō u-dan, row ra, section u).

Usage notes

Unlike the hiragana system, used for Japanese language words that kanji does not cover, the katakana syllabary is used primarily for transcription of foreign language words into Japanese and the writing of loan words (collectively gairaigo), as well as to represent onomatopoeias, technical and scientific terms, and the names of plants, animals, and minerals. It is also occasionally used colloquially in some words for emphasis. Names of Japanese companies, as well as certain Japanese language words, are also sometimes written in katakana rather than the other systems. Formerly, female given names were written in katakana. [edit]

See also

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