け

See also: げ, け゚, and ゖ

Japanese

Stroke order

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ke̞]

Etymology 1

Derived in the Heian period from writing the man'yōgana kanji 計 in the cursive sōsho style. Variants include those derived by similar process from 个, 介, 遣, 希, 稀 and 気.

Syllable

け (romaji ke)

1. The hiragana syllable け (ke). Its equivalent in katakana is ケ (ke). It is the ninth syllable in the gojūon order; its position is か行え段 (ka-gyō e-dan, “row ka, section e”).

Derived terms

• げ (ge)

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, こ𛄲 (𛄲)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, 𛀆, ゆゅ, 𛀁, よょ, らら゚, りり゚, るる゚, れれ゚, ろろ゚, わゎわ゙, ゐ𛅐 (𛅐)ゐ゙, 𛄟 (𛄟), ゑ𛅑 (𛅑)ゑ゙, を𛅒 (𛅒)を゙, ん, ー, ゝ, ゞ, ゟ

Etymology 2

For pronunciation and definitions of け – see the following entry.

【毛】2 [noun] [from c. 759] hair, fur

(This term, け, is the hiragana spelling of the above term.) For a list of all kanji read as け, see Category:Japanese kanji read as け.)

Etymology 3

/kai/ → /keː/ → /ke/

From earlier けえ (kē), in turn a sound shift from かい (kai).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ke̞]

Particle

け • (ke) 

1. (informal, intimate, sometimes considered dialectal) (question particle)

Etymology 4

/koi/ → /keː/ → /ke/

Verb

け • (ke) 

1. (Kagoshima, dialect) come! (imperative form, equivalent to mainland 来(こ)い (koi))
   • 1984 February 15, Motoka Murakami, “またいつか、勝(しょう)負(ぶ)の日(ひ)までの巻(まき) [One Day, We’ll Face off Again]”, in 六(ム)三(サ)四(シ)の剣(けん) (六(ム)三(サ)四(シ)の剣(けん)) [Musashi’s Sword], volume 13 (fiction), Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN, page 77:

     よかか…オイのなは日(ひ)高(だか)剣(けん)介(すけ)…くやしかったら鹿児島(カゴッマ)セェけ(こい)‼いっでん(いつでも)勝(しょう)負(ぶ)してやっで‼

     Yoka ka… Oi no na wa Hidaka Kensuke… Kuyashikattara Kagomma sē ke‼ Idden shōbu shite yadde‼

     Awrite… Mah name’s Hidaka Kensuke… Come to Kagoshima when yer ready‼ Ah’ll be waitin’ to settle witcha again‼