わ

わ U+308F, わ HIRAGANA LETTER WA ← ゎ [U+308E] Hiragana ゐ → [U+3090]

Japanese

Stroke order

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɰᵝa̠]

Etymology 1

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

Syllable

わ (romaji wa)

1. The hiragana syllable わ (wa). Its equivalent in katakana is ワ (wa). It is the forty-fourth syllable in the gojūon order; its position is わ行あ段 (wa-gyō a-dan, “row wa, section a”).

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.

Particle

わ (rōmaji wa)

1. a particle used in the end of sentences to indicates admiration or emotion

   あなたの髪 (かみ)は長 (なが)いわね！

   Anata no kami wa nagai wa ne!

   Wow, your hair is so long!

   今 (いま)、行 (い)くわ。

   Ima, iku wa.

   I'm coming.

   知 (し)らないわ。

   Shiranai wa.

   I don't know.

Usage notes

• In common Japanese, this particle is mainly used by women. In various dialects, particularly western, it is used by both men and women, but with a different pitch accent.

Etymology 3

Reading for various kanji.

Counter

わ (rōmaji -wa)

1. 羽: birds or rabbits
2. 把: bundles
3. 話: stories, TV episodes

Noun

わ (rōmaji wa)

1. 回, 曲: a sharp bend in a valley, inlet, coast, or river
2. 輪, 環: a ring
3. 和, 倭: Japan, Japanese
4. 和: harmony; a sum

Proper noun

わ (rōmaji Wa)

1. 和, 倭: Japan, Japanese, Nippo-

Pronoun

わ (rōmaji wa)

1. 我, 吾, 和: the first-person personal pronoun: I, me

References

• Horiuchi, Hideaki; Akiyama Ken (1997) Shin Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei 17: Taketori Monogatari, Ise Monogatari (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, ISBN 4-0024-0017-4
• Yamagishi, Tokuhei (1958) Koten Bungaku Taikei 14: Genji Monogatari 1 (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, ISBN 4-0006-0014-1