は

See also: ほ, ば, ぱ, and Appendix:Variations of "pa"

は U+306F, は HIRAGANA LETTER HA ← の [U+306E] Hiragana ば → [U+3070]

Japanese

Stroke order

Etymology 1

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ha̠]

Syllable

は (romaji ha)

1. The hiragana syllable は (ha). Its equivalent in katakana is ハ (ha). It is the twenty-sixth syllable in the gojūon order; its position is は行あ段 (ha-gyō a-dan, “row ha, section a”).

Derived terms

• ば (ba)
• ぱ (pa)

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

/pa/ → /ɸa/ → /wa/

From Old Japanese. Used in the oldest Japanese writings, including the Man'yōshū finished some time after 759 CE.

The spelling was preserved as は (usually read as ha) in the script reform, rather than changed to わ (wa) as would otherwise be expected from the phonetics.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɰᵝa̠]

Particle

は (rōmaji wa)

1. a particle that acts as a topic marker

   これは犬 (いぬ)です。

   Kore wa inu desu.

   This [the topic, about which we are speaking] is a dog.

2. Inserted between て (te) and a negative suffix for emphasis.

   そう思 (おも)ってはいないでしょうか。

   Sō omotte wa inai deshō ka.

   Do you not think so?

   勝 (か)てるとは思 (おも)ってはいない

   kateru to wa omotte wa inai

   does not think that one can win

Usage notes

Note that English has no direct counterpart. For illustrative purposes, it may be translated as "as for" or a similar phrase. For example, "As for this, it is a dog". This often does not produce very natural English, however.

Derived terms

• ば (ba): conditional conjugation ending
• では (de wa): then, well then, in that case

See also

• は as a Japanese topic marker
• が (ga): the subject marker

Etymology 3

The reading of various kanji terms.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ha̠]

Noun

は (rōmaji ha)

1. 羽: feather
2. 葉: leaf
3. 歯: tooth
4. 端: edge
5. 刃: blade edge
6. 翳: (historical) in ancient times, a kind of fan used by servants to shield the face of nobles
7. 派: group, faction, sect
8. 破: (music) a slower break or section in the middle of a piece of gagaku music
9. 覇: supremacy, hegemony