letter of an alphabet; syllabic character
Refers to a single character in a writing system, such as an alphabet letter or a kana character. Often used in linguistic or pedagogical contexts.
The English alphabet has 26 letters.
In printing, a mold or master from which type is cast. Cross-referenced with 母型 (ぼけい), which is the more common term for this sense.
See also: 母型
representative character of a Middle Chinese initial consonant
In Chinese historical phonology, a character used to represent a particular initial consonant class, such as those in the 三十六字母 (thirty-six initials) system.
See also: 三十六字母
Learn the hiragana characters.
There were craftsmen who made matrices for movable type.
The thirty-six initials are fundamental to Chinese historical phonology.
phonetic alphabet
36 Initials
From 字 (character) + 母 (mother). The 'matrix' sense derives from the idea of a 'mother' mold for type. The phonological sense is a specialized extension in Chinese linguistics.