noun
small okurigana used with kanbun
Historical term for small-sized kana used to indicate Japanese readings in kanbun (classical Chinese texts). Not used in modern standard Japanese writing.
漢文の訓読では、捨て仮名が読み方を示すために使われた。
In the Japanese reading of kanbun, small okurigana were used to indicate the reading.
noun
small kana for diphthongs; small kana for yōon
In modern usage, refers to small kana like ゃ, ゅ, ょ used to form contracted sounds (yōon) or other small kana such as ぁ, ぃ, ぅ, ぇ, ぉ. The term is somewhat technical; learners more often encounter 小書き文字 or simply 小さい「ゃ」etc.
「きゃ」の「ゃ」は捨て仮名の一種です。
The small 'ゃ' in 'きゃ' is a type of small kana.
A more general term for small-sized kana, including those used for yōon and other purposes. 捨て仮名 is a traditional term often used specifically for the small kana in yōon or kanbun.
Refers to the contracted sounds themselves (e.g., きゃ, しゅ), while 捨て仮名 refers to the small kana characters used to write them.
Compound of 捨て (sute, 'discarded', from verb 捨てる) + 仮名 (kana). The name likely comes from the idea that these small kana were originally written smaller and 'thrown away' or treated as subordinate to the main text.