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Character  カ 
Unicode name KATAKANA LETTER KA
Codepoint U+30AB

Contents

[edit] Japanese

Stroke order
カ-bw.png

[edit] Etymology

Simplified in the Heian period from the man'yōgana kanji . Cognate to hiragana .

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Syllable

(Hepburn romanization ka)

  1. The katakana syllable  (ka), whose equivalent in hiragana is  (ka). It is the sixth syllable of the gojūon order, and its position in gojūon tables is (KA-gyō, A-dan; “row KA, section A”).

[edit] Usage notes

Unlike the hiragana system which is used for Japanese language words for which kanji does not cover, the katakana syllabary is primarily used for transcription of foreign language words into Japanese and the writing of loan words (collectively gairaigo), as well as to represent onomatopoeia, technical and scientific terms, and the names of plants, animals, and minerals. Names of Japanese companies as well as certain Japanese language words are also written in katakana rather than the other systems.[edit]

[edit] Related terms

[edit] See also

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