へ

Character	へ
Unicode name	HIRAGANA LETTER HE
Codepoint	U+3078

See also ヘ

Japanese

Stroke order

Etymology 1

Derived in the Heian period from writing the man'yōgana kanji 部 in the cursive sōsho style.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /he/, [he̞]

Syllable

へ (Hepburn romanization he)

1. The hiragana syllable へ (he), whose equivalent in katakana is ヘ (he). It is the twenty-ninth syllable of the gojūon order, and its position in gojūon tables is は行え段 (HA-gyō, E-dan; “row HA, section E”).

Related terms

• For a list of words starting with へ (he) see: Special:Allpages/へ

Derived terms

• べ (be)
• ぺ (pe)

See also

• (Hiragana) 平仮名; あぁ, いぃ, うぅゔ, えぇ, おぉ, かゕが, きぎ, くぐ, けゖげ, こご, さざ, しじ, すず, せぜ, そぞ, ただ, ちぢ, つっづ, てで, とど, な, に, ぬ, ね, の, はばぱ, ひびぴ, ふぶぷ, へべぺ, ほぼぽ, ま, み, む, め, も, やゃ, ゆゅ, よょ, ら, り, る, れ, ろ, わゎ, ゐ, ゑ, を, ん, ー, ゝ, ゞ, ゟ

Etymology 2

From Old Japanese. Possibly cognate with Korean particle 에 (e).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /e/, [e̞]

Particle

へ (romaji e)

1. to, towards

   へ (e) indicates a destination or movement toward something. When used in this sense, it is pronounced e instead of he.

   日本へようこそ!

   にほんへようこそ!
   Nihon e yōkoso!

   Welcome to Japan!

   銀行へ行った。

   ぎんこうへいった。
   Ginkō e itta.

   [I] went to the bank.

Synonyms

• に (ni): to, at

  In the sense indicating destination, the particles へ (e) and に (ni) are often interchangeable, though there is a slight difference of connotation or emphasis. へ (e) emphasizes the journey to the destination, while に (ni) emphasizes the arrival at the destination.

Etymology 3

Reading of various kanji.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /he/, [he̞]

Noun

• 戸: a house; a household
• 綜 a heddle of a loom
• 辺, 方: a place, a location; nearby
• 屁: a fart, gas, wind
• 瓮: a jar, a jug
• 竈: a cooking stove
• 舳: the prow of a boat or ship