Copyright © 2026 Kotomora. All Rights Reserved.

Words Kanji Guides About

ゐ Japanese meaning | Kotomora

ゐ

Meanings

1

unclassified

hiragana 'wi' (historical kana)

obsolete term

Obsolete kana character. Used in historical texts and pre-war orthography. In modern Japanese, it has been replaced by い.

「ゐ」は、歴れき史し的てき仮か名な遣づかいで使つかわれた文も字じです。
'ゐ' is a character used in historical kana orthography.

Similar words

い
Modern hiragana character that replaced ゐ in standard usage.
ゑ
Another obsolete hiragana character (historical 'we'), also replaced in modern orthography.

Etymology

Derived from the cursive form of the kanji 為. It represented the syllable 'wi' in classical Japanese, but the pronunciation merged with い in modern Japanese.