Translation guide
Hiragana is one of the two Japanese syllabaries, used for native words, grammatical particles, and verb endings. This entry explains how to refer to hiragana in Japanese and how to describe writing in hiragana.
Referring to the hiragana writing system itself.
The standard Japanese word for the hiragana script. Often written in hiragana itself.
Please write your name in hiragana.
The kanji form of 'hiragana'. More common in formal or academic contexts.
Hiragana was established in the Heian period.
Expressing that something is written using hiragana characters.
Write it in hiragana. · This word is usually written in hiragana.
Referring to individual hiragana letters or the set of characters.
Distinguishing hiragana from katakana, kanji, or romaji.
When comparing scripts, use ひらがな for hiragana and カタカナ for katakana. Kanji is 漢字, romaji is ローマ字.
Please explain the difference between hiragana and katakana.
In English, 'hiragana' is not capitalized unless at the start of a sentence. In Japanese, it is written in hiragana or kanji as 平仮名, but never in katakana unless for stylistic emphasis.