変体仮名

Japanese

Wikipedia ^ja

Kanji in this term
変	体	仮	名

Wikipedia

Etymology

Compound of 変体 (hentai, “variant form”) +‎ 仮名 (kana, “the hiragana or katakana syllabaries; a syllabary character”).

Pronunciation

• On'yomi
• IPA: /he.ɴ.ta.i.ga.na/, [hẽ̞ɴtäigänä], [hẽ̞ɴtäiŋänä]

Hentaigana for は (ha), from cursive for 盤

Hiragana for は (ha), from cursive for 波

Noun

変体仮名 (shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai 變體假名, hiragana へんたいがな, romaji hentaigana)

1. a variant form of a hiragana or katakana character, generally an alternate 万葉仮名 (man'yōgana)

See also

• 万葉仮名 (まんようがな, man'yōgana): Man'yō characters, the ancestors of modern kana as derived from cursive forms of kanji used phonetically in the Man'yōshū collection of poetry