カタカナ

also: かたかな

カ

タ

カ

ナ

Common wordJLPTN4Freq.FrequencyTop 20,000

Meanings

1

noun

katakana; angular Japanese syllabary used primarily for loanwords

usually written using kana alone

One of the two Japanese syllabaries, characterized by angular strokes. Used mainly for foreign loanwords, onomatopoeia, and emphasis.

Written forms

カタカナUsage79%
kana-only spelling
Standard katakana spelling; the word is usually written in kana.
片かた仮か名なUsage19%
Kanji spelling; rarely used in modern writing.
かたかなUsage2%
Hiragana spelling; less common than katakana but still encountered.
片かたかなUsage1%
search-only kanji form
Search-only kanji-kana mixed form; not a standard spelling.

Kanji

片one-sided, leaf, sheet
仮sham, temporary, interim
名name, noted, distinguished

Similar words

ひらがな
Hiragana is the cursive syllabary used for native Japanese words and grammatical elements, while katakana is angular and used primarily for foreign words and emphasis.

Etymology

Derived from parts of Chinese characters used phonetically in the Heian period. The name 片仮名 literally means 'fragmentary kana', referring to the practice of taking only a part of a kanji to represent a sound.