Katakana

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Katakana

片仮名

カタカナ

Script typeSyllabary

Time period

~800 AD to the present

Directiontop-to-bottom, left-to-right

LanguagesJapanese, Ryukyuan, Ainu, Palauan[1]

Taiwanese Hokkien (formerly)

Related scripts

Parent systems

Oracle Bone Script

 Seal Script
 Clerical Script
 Regular script (Kanji)
 Man'yōgana
o Katakana

Sister systems

Hiragana
ISO 15924

ISO 15924Kana, 411 , Katakana

Unicode

Unicode alias

Katakana

Unicode range

 Katakana:
 U+30A0–U+30FF
 Katakana Phonetic Extensions:
 U+31F0–U+31FF
 Enclosed CJK Letters and Months:
 U+3200–U+32FF
 Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms:
 U+FF00–U+FFEF
 Kana Supplement:
 U+1B000–U+1B0FF
 Small Kana Extension:
 U+1B130–U+1B16F

This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For
an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩,
see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

Japanese writing

Components

show

Kanji

show

Kana
show

Typographic

symbols

Uses

show

Syllabograms

Romanization

show

Rōmaji

v
t
e

Katakana (片仮名、カタカナ, Japanese pronunciation: [katakaꜜna][note 1]) is a Japanese

syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana,[2] kanji and in
some cases the Latin script (known as rōmaji). The word katakana means "fragmentary kana",
as the katakana characters are derived from components or fragments of more complex kanji.
Katakana and hiragana are both kana systems. With one or two minor exceptions, each syllable
(strictly mora) in the Japanese language is represented by one character or kana, in each
system. Each kana represents either a vowel such as "a" (katakana ア); a consonant followed by
a vowel such as "ka" (katakana カ); or "n" (katakana ン), a nasal sonorant which, depending on
the context, sounds either like English m, n or ng ([ŋ]) or like the nasal vowels of Portuguese or
Galician.

In contrast to the hiragana syllabary, which is used for Japanese words not covered by kanji and
for grammatical inflections, the katakana syllabary usage is quite similar to italics in English;
specifically, it is used for transcription of foreign-language words into Japanese and the writing
of loan words (collectively gairaigo); for emphasis; to represent onomatopoeia; for technical
and scientific terms; and for names of plants, animals, minerals and often Japanese companies.

Katakana are characterized by short, straight strokes and sharp corners. There are two main
systems of ordering katakana: the old-fashioned iroha ordering and the more prevalent gojūon
ordering.

Contents
 1Writing system
o 1.1Overview
 1.2Japanese
o 1.2.1Syllabary and orthography
 1.2.2Usage
 1.3Ainu
 1.4Taiwanese
 1.5Okinawan
 2Table of katakana
 3History
 4Stroke order
 5Gugyeol-inspired theory
 6Computer encoding
o 6.1Hiragana and katakana
o 6.2Unicode
 7See also
 8Notes
 9References
 10External links

Writing system[edit]
Overview[edit]

Gojūon – Katakana characters with a nucleusaiueo

∅ア イ ウ エ オ

kカ キ ク ケ コ

sサ シ ス セ ソ

tタ チ ツ テ ト
nナ ニ ヌ ネ ノ

hハ ヒ フ ヘ ホ

mマ ミ ム メ モ

yヤ ユ 𛀀 ヨ

rラ リ ル レ ロ

wワ ヰ ヱ ヲ

ン (n)

The complete katakana script consists of 48 characters, not counting functional and diacritic
marks:

 5 nucleus vowels
 42 core or body (onset-nucleus) syllabograms, consisting of nine consonants in
combination with each of the five vowels, of which three possible combinations (yi, ye,
wu) are not canonical
 1 coda consonant

These are conceived as a 5×10 grid (gojūon, 五十音, literally "fifty sounds"), as shown in the
adjacent table, read ア (a), イ (i), ウ (u), エ (e), オ (o), カ (ka), キ (ki), ク (ku), ケ (ke), コ
(ko) and so on. The gojūon inherits its vowel and consonant order from Sanskrit practice. In
vertical text contexts, which used to be the default case, the grid is usually presented as 10
columns by 5 rows, with vowels on the right hand side and ア (a) on top. Katakana glyphs in
the same row or column do not share common graphic characteristics. Three of the
syllabograms to be expected, yi, ye and wu, may have been used idiosyncratically with varying
glyphs, but never became conventional in any language and are not present at all in modern
Japanese.

The 50-sound table is often amended with an extra character, the nasal ン (n). This can appear
in several positions, most often next to the N signs or, because it developed from one of many
mu hentaigana, below the u column. It may also be appended to the vowel row or the a
column. Here, it is shown in a table of its own.

The script includes two diacritic marks placed at the upper right of the base character that
change the initial sound of a syllabogram. A double dot, called dakuten, indicates a primary
alteration; most often it voices the consonant: k→g, s→z, t→d and h→b; for example, カ (ka)
becomes ガ (ga). Secondary alteration, where possible, is shown by a circular handakuten:
h→p; For example; ハ (ha) becomes パ (pa). Diacritics, though used for over a thousand years,
only became mandatory in the Japanese writing system in the second half of the 20th century.
Their application is strictly limited in proper writing systems,[clarification needed] but may be
more extensive in academic transcriptions.

Furthermore, some characters may have special semantics when used in smaller sizes after a
normal one (see below), but this does not make the script truly bicameral.

The layout of the gojūon table promotes a systematic view of kana syllabograms as being
always pronounced with the same single consonant followed by a vowel, but this is not exactly
the case (and never has been). Existing schemes for the romanization of Japanese either are
based on the systematic nature of the script, e.g. nihon-siki チ ti, or they apply some Western
graphotactics, usually the English one, to the common Japanese pronunciation of the kana
signs, e.g. Hepburn-shiki チ chi. Both approaches conceal the fact, though, that many
consonant-based katakana signs, especially those canonically ending in u, can be used in coda
position, too, where the vowel is unvoiced and therefore barely perceptible.

Japanese[edit]

Syllabary and orthography[edit]

Katakana used in Japanese orthographyaiueo

∅ア イ ウ エ オ

kカ キ ク ケ コ

gガ ギ グ ゲ ゴ

sサ シ ス セ ソ

zザ ジ ズ ゼ ゾ

tタ チ ツ テ ト

dダ ヂ ヅ デ ド

nナ ニ ヌ ネ ノ

hハ ヒ フ ヘ ホ

bバ ビ ブ ベ ボ

pパ ピ プ ペ ポ

mマ ミ ム メ モ
yヤ ユ 𛀀 ヨ

rラ リ ル レ ロ

wワ ヰ ヱ ヲ

ン (n)

Functional marks

and diacritics

ッ ヽ ゛ ゜

Unused or obsolete

Of the 48 katakana syllabograms described above, only 46 are used in modern Japanese, and
one of these is preserved for only a single use:

 wi and we are pronounced as vowels in modern Japanese and are therefore obsolete,
having been supplanted by i and e, respectively.
 wo is now used only as a particle, and is normally pronounced the same as vowel オ o.
As a particle, it is usually written in hiragana (を) and the katakana form, ヲ, is almost
obsolete.

A small version of the katakana for ya, yu or yo (ャ, ュ or ョ, respectively) may be added to
katakana ending in i. This changes the i vowel sound to a glide (palatalization) to a, u or o, e.g.
キャ (ki + ya) /kja/. Addition of the small y kana is called yōon.

Small versions of the five vowel kana are sometimes used to represent trailing off sounds (ハァ
haa, ネェ nee), but in katakana they are more often used in yōon-like extended digraphs
designed to represent phonemes not present in Japanese; examples include チェ (che) in チェ
ンジ chenji ("change"), ファ (fa) in ファミリー famirī ("family") and ウィ (wi) and ディ (di)
in ウィキペディア Wikipedia.

A character called a sokuon, which is visually identical to a small tsu ッ, indicates that the
following consonant is geminated (doubled). This is represented in rōmaji by doubling the
consonant that follows the sokuon. In Japanese this is an important distinction in
pronunciation; for example, compare サカ saka "hill" with サッカ sakka "author". Geminated
consonants are common in transliterations of foreign loanwords; for example, English "bed" is
represented as ベッド (beddo). The sokuon also sometimes appears at the end of utterances,
where it denotes a glottal stop. However, it cannot be used to double the na, ni, nu, ne, no
syllables' consonants; to double these, the singular n (ン) is added in front of the syllable. The
sokuon may also be used to approximate a non-native sound: Bach is written バッハ (Bahha);
Mach as マッハ (Mahha).

Both katakana and hiragana usually spell native long vowels with the addition of a second
vowel kana. However, in foreign loanwords, katakana instead uses a vowel extender mark,
called a chōonpu ("long vowel mark"). This is a short line (ー) following the direction of the text,
horizontal for yokogaki (horizontal text), and vertical for tategaki (vertical text). For example,
メール mēru is the gairaigo for e-mail taken from the English word "mail"; the ー lengthens
the e. There are some exceptions, such as ローソク (rōsoku (蝋燭, "candle")) or ケータイ
(kētai (携帯, "mobile phone")), where Japanese words written in katakana use the elongation
mark, too.

Standard and voiced iteration marks are written in katakana as ヽ and ヾ, respectively.

Usage[edit]

Main article: Japanese writing system

An example of Japanese writing in 1940 using katakana exclusively. パアマネントハヤメマセ

ウ ("Stop the permanent wave")

In modern Japanese, katakana is most often used for transcription of words from foreign
languages or loanwords (other than words historically imported from Chinese), called gairaigo.
[3] For example, "television" is written テレビ (terebi). Similarly, katakana is usually used for
country names, foreign places, and foreign personal names. For example, the United States is
usually referred to as アメリカ Amerika, rather than in its ateji kanji spelling of 亜米利加
Amerika.

Katakana are also used for onomatopoeia,[3] words used to represent sounds – for example, ピ
ンポン (pinpon), the "ding-dong" sound of a doorbell.

Technical and scientific terms, such as the names of animal and plant species and minerals, are
also commonly written in katakana.[4] Homo sapiens, as a species, is written ヒト (hito), rather
than its kanji 人.

Katakana are often (but not always) used for transcription of Japanese company names. For
example, Suzuki is written スズキ, and Toyota is written トヨタ. As these are common family
names, Suzuki being the second most common in Japan,[5] using katakana helps distinguish
company names from surnames in writing. Katakana are commonly used on signs,
advertisements, and hoardings (i.e., billboards), for example, ココ koko ("here"), ゴミ gomi
("trash"), or メガネ megane ("glasses"). Words the writer wishes to emphasize in a sentence
are also sometimes written in katakana, mirroring the usage of italics in European languages.[3]
Pre-World War II official documents mix katakana and kanji in the same way that hiragana and
kanji are mixed in modern Japanese texts, that is, katakana were used for okurigana and
particles such as wa or o.

Katakana was also used for telegrams in Japan before 1988, and for computer systems – before
the introduction of multibyte characters – in the 1980s. Most computers of that era used
katakana instead of kanji or hiragana for output.

Although words borrowed from ancient Chinese are usually written in kanji, loanwords from
modern Chinese dialects that are borrowed directly use katakana instead.

Examples of modern Chinese loanwords in

JapaneseJapaneseRōmajiMeaningChineseRomanizationSource language

マージャン mājan mahjong 麻將 májiàng Mandarin

ウーロン茶 ūroncha Oolong tea 烏龍茶 wūlóngchá

チャーハン chāhan fried rice 炒飯 chǎofàn

チャーシュー chāshū barbecued pork 叉燒 chā sīu Cantonese

シューマイ shūmai shumai 燒賣 sīu máai

The very common Chinese loanword rāmen, written in katakana as ラーメン, is rarely written
with its kanji (拉麺).

There are rare instances where the opposite has occurred, with kanji forms created from words
originally written in katakana. An example of this is コーヒー kōhī, ("coffee"), which can
alternatively be written as 珈琲. This kanji usage is occasionally employed by coffee
manufacturers or coffee shops for novelty.

Katakana is used to indicate the on'yomi (Chinese-derived readings) of a kanji in a kanji

dictionary. For instance, the kanji 人 has a Japanese pronunciation, written in hiragana as ひと
hito (person), as well as a Chinese derived pronunciation, written in katakana as ジン jin (used
to denote groups of people). Katakana is sometimes used instead of hiragana as furigana to
give the pronunciation of a word written in Roman characters, or for a foreign word, which is
written as kanji for the meaning, but intended to be pronounced as the original.

In this travel warning, the kanji for "fog" (霧) has been written in katakana (キリ) to make it
more immediately readable

Katakana are also sometimes used to indicate words being spoken in a foreign or otherwise
unusual accent. For example, in a manga, the speech of a foreign character or a robot may be
represented by コンニチワ konnichiwa ("hello") instead of the more typical hiragana こんに
ちは. Some Japanese personal names are written in katakana. This was more common in the
past, hence elderly women often have katakana names. This was particularly common among
women in the Meiji and Taishō periods, when many poor, illiterate parents were unwilling to
pay a scholar to give their daughters names in kanji.[6] Katakana is also used to denote the fact
that a character is speaking a foreign language, and what is displayed in katakana is only the
Japanese "translation" of his or her words.

Some frequently used words may also be written in katakana in dialogs to convey an informal,
conversational tone. Some examples include マンガ ("manga"), アイツ aitsu ("that guy or
girl; he/him; her"), バカ baka ("fool"), etc.

Words with difficult-to-read kanji are sometimes written in katakana (hiragana is also used for
this purpose). This phenomenon is often seen with medical terminology. For example, in the
word 皮膚科 hifuka ("dermatology"), the second kanji, 膚, is considered difficult to read, and
thus the word hifuka is commonly written 皮フ科 or ヒフ科, mixing kanji and katakana.
Similarly, difficult-to-read kanji such as 癌 gan ("cancer") are often written in katakana or
hiragana.

Katakana is also used for traditional musical notations, as in the Tozan-ryū of shakuhachi, and in
sankyoku ensembles with koto, shamisen and shakuhachi.

Some instructors teaching Japanese as a foreign language "introduce katakana after the
students have learned to read and write sentences in hiragana without difficulty and know the
rules."[7] Most students who have learned hiragana "do not have great difficulty in
memorizing" katakana as well.[8] Other instructors introduce katakana first, because these are
used with loanwords. This gives students a chance to practice reading and writing kana with
meaningful words. This was the approach taken by the influential American linguistics scholar
Eleanor Harz Jorden in Japanese: The Written Language (parallel to Japanese: The Spoken
Language).[9]

Ainu[edit]

Main article: Ainu language § Writing

Katakana is commonly used by Japanese linguists to write the Ainu language. In Ainu katakana
usage, the consonant that comes at the end of a syllable is represented by a small version of a
katakana that corresponds to that final consonant followed by an arbitrary vowel. For instance
"up" is represented by ウㇷ゚(ウプ [u followed by small pu]). Ainu also uses three handakuten
modified katakana, セ゚([tse]), and ツ゚or ト゚([tu̜ ]). In Unicode, the Katakana Phonetic
Extensions block (U+31F0–U+31FF) exists for Ainu language support. These characters are used
for the Ainu language only.

Taiwanese[edit]
Main article: Taiwanese kana

Taiwanese kana (タイ ヲァヌ ギイ カア ビェン) is a katakana-based writing system once

used to write Holo Taiwanese, when Taiwan was under Japanese control. It functioned as a
phonetic guide for Chinese characters, much like furigana in Japanese or Zhùyīn fúhào in
Chinese. There were similar systems for other languages in Taiwan as well, including Hakka and
Formosan languages.

Unlike Japanese or Ainu, Taiwanese kana are used similarly to the Zhùyīn fúhào characters, with
kana serving as initials, vowel medials and consonant finals, marked with tonal marks. A dot
below the initial kana represents aspirated consonants, and チ, ツ, サ, セ, ソ, ウ and オ with
a superpositional bar represent sounds found only in Taiwanese.

Okinawan[edit]

Main article: Okinawan scripts

Katakana is used as a phonetic guide for the Okinawan language, unlike the various other
systems to represent Okinawan, which use hiragana with extensions. The system was devised
by the Okinawa Center of Language Study of the University of the Ryukyus. It uses many
extensions and yōon to show the many non-Japanese sounds of Okinawan.

Table of katakana[edit]
For modern digraph additions that are used mainly to transcribe other languages, see
Transcription into Japanese.

This is a table of katakana together with their Hepburn romanization and rough IPA
transcription for their use in Japanese. Katakana with dakuten or handakuten follow the gojūon
kana without them.

Characters shi シ and tsu ツ, and so ソ and n(g) ン, look very similar in print except for the
slant and stroke shape. These differences in slant and shape are more prominent when written
with an ink brush.

Grey background indicates obsolete characters.

Katakana syllabogramsMonographs (gojūon)Digraphs (yōon)

aiueoyayuyo

∅ア

a [a] イ
i [i] ウ

u [ɯ] エ

e [e] オ

o [o]

Kカ

ka [ka] キ

ki [ki] ク

ku [kɯ] ケ

ke [ke] コ

ko [ko] キャ

kya [kʲa] キュ

kyu [kʲɯ] キョ

kyo [kʲo]

Sサ

sa [sa] シ

shi [ɕi] ス

su [sɯ] セ

se [se] ソ

so [so] シャ

sha [ɕa] シュ

shu [ɕɯ] ショ

sho [ɕo]

Tタ

ta [ta] チ
chi [t͡ɕi] ツ

tsu [t͡sɯ] テ

te [te] ト

to [to] チャ

cha [t͡ɕa] チュ

chu [t͡ɕɯ] チョ

cho [t͡ɕo]

Nナ

na [na] ニ

ni [ɲi] ヌ

nu [nɯ] ネ

ne [ne] ノ

no [no] ニャ

nya [ɲa] ニュ

nyu [ɲɯ] ニョ

nyo [ɲo]

Hハ

ha [ha] ヒ

hi [çi] フ

fu [ɸɯ] ヘ

he [he] ホ

ho [ho] ヒャ

hya [ça] ヒュ

hyu [çɯ] ヒョ
hyo [ço]

Mマ

ma [ma] ミ

mi [mi] ム

mu [mɯ] メ

me [me] モ

mo [mo] ミャ

mya [mʲa] ミュ

myu [mʲɯ] ミョ

myo [mʲo]

Yヤ

ya [ja] [n 1] ユ

yu [jɯ] [n 1] ヨ

yo [jo]

Rラ

ra [ɾa] リ

ri [ɾi] ル

ru [ɾɯ] レ

re [ɾe] ロ

ro [ɾo] リャ

rya [ɾʲa] リュ

ryu [ɾʲɯ] リョ

ryo [ɾʲo]

Wワ
wa [ɰa] ヰ

wi [i][n 2] [n 1] ヱ

we [e][n 2] ヲ

wo [o][n 2]

Final nasal monographFunctional graphemes

[n m ŋ] before stop consonants;

[ɴ ɰ̃ ] elsewhere ッ

(before geminate consonant) ー

(after long vowel) ヽ

(reduplicates and unvoices syllable) ヾ

(reduplicates and voices syllable)

Monographs with diacritics: gojūon with (han)dakutenDigraphs with diacritics: yōon with
(han)dakuten

aiueoyayuyo

Gガ

ga [ɡa] ギ

gi [ɡi] グ

gu [ɡɯ] ゲ

ge [ɡe] ゴ

go [ɡo] ギャ

gya [ɡʲa] ギュ
gyu [ɡʲɯ] ギョ

gyo [ɡʲo]

Zザ

za [za] ジ

ji [(d)ʑi] ズ

zu [(d)zɯ] ゼ

ze [ze] ゾ

zo [zo] ジャ

ja [(d)ʑa] ジュ

ju [(d)ʑɯ] ジョ

jo [(d)ʑo]

Dダ

da [da] ヂ

ji [(d)ʑi][n 3] ヅ

zu [(d)zɯ][n 3] デ

de [de] ド

do [do] ヂャ

ja [(d)ʑa][n 3] ヂュ

ju [(d)ʑɯ][n 3] ヂョ

jo [(d)ʑo][n 3]

Bバ

ba [ba] ビ

bi [bi] ブ

bu [bɯ] ベ
be [be] ボ

bo [bo] ビャ

bya [bʲa] ビュ

byu [bʲɯ] ビョ

byo [bʲo]

Pパ

pa [pa] ピ

pi [pi] プ

pu [pɯ] ペ

pe [pe] ポ

po [po] ピャ

pya [pʲa] ピュ

pyu [pʲɯ] ピョ

pyo [pʲo]

Notes

1. ^ Jump up to:a b c Theoretical combinations yi, ye and wu are unused .

2. ^ Jump up to:a b c The characters in positions wi and we are obsolete in modern
Japanese, and have been replaced by イ (i) and エ (e). The character wo, in practice
normally pronounced o, is preserved in only one use: as a particle. This is normally
written in hiragana (を), so katakana ヲ sees only limited use. See Gojūon and the
articles on each character for details.
3. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e The ヂ (di) and ヅ (du) kana (often romanised as ji and zu) are
primarily used for etymologic spelling , when the unvoiced equivalents チ (ti) and ツ
(tu) (usually romanised as chi and tsu) undergo a sound change (rendaku) and become
voiced when they occur in the middle of a compound word. In other cases, the
identically-pronounced ジ (ji) and ズ (zu) are used instead. ヂ (di) and ヅ (du) can
never begin a word, and they are not common in katakana, since the concept of
rendaku does not apply to transcribed foreign words, one of the major uses of katakana.

History[edit]
A page of the Meiji Constitution written exclusively with kyūjitai and katakana

Katakana was developed in the 9th century (during the early Heian period) by Buddhist monks
in Nara by taking parts of man'yōgana characters as a form of shorthand, hence this kana is so-
called kata (片, "partial, fragmented"). For example, ka (カ) comes from the left side of ka (加,
lit. "increase", but the original meaning is no longer applicable to kana). The adjacent table
shows the origins of each katakana: the red markings of the original Chinese character (used as
man'yōgana) eventually became each corresponding symbol.[10]

Early on, katakana was almost exclusively used by men for official text and text imported from
China.[11]

Official documents of the Empire of Japan were written exclusively with kyūjitai and katakana.

Stroke order[edit]
The following table shows the method for writing each katakana character. It is arranged in a
traditional manner, where characters are organized by the sounds that make them up. The
numbers and arrows indicate the stroke order and direction, respectively.

Gugyeol-inspired theory[edit]
According to Yoshinori Kobayashi, professor of linguistics at Tokushima Bunri University,
katakana is likely based on a system of writing from the Korean Peninsula. He claims that his
findings suggest the possibility that the katakana-like annotations used in reading guide marks
(乎古止点 / ヲコト点, okototen) possibly originated in 8th-century Korea – Silla – and then
been introduced to Japan through Buddhist texts.[12][13] Linguist Alexander Vovin elaborates
on Kobayashi's argument, asserting that katakana derives from the Korean gugyeol (구결)
system.[14]

Computer encoding[edit]
In addition to fonts intended for Japanese text and Unicode catch-all fonts (like Arial Unicode
MS), many fonts intended for Chinese (such as MS Song) and Korean (such as Batang) also
include katakana
Hiragana and katakana[edit]

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Main article: Half-width kana

In addition to the usual full-width (全角, zenkaku) display forms of characters, katakana has a
second form, half-width (半角, hankaku) (there are no kanji). The half-width forms were
originally associated with the JIS X 0201 encoding. Although their display form is not specified in
the standard, in practice they were designed to fit into the same rectangle of pixels as Roman
letters to enable easy implementation on the computer equipment of the day. This space is
narrower than the square space traditionally occupied by Japanese characters, hence the name
"half-width". In this scheme, diacritics (dakuten and handakuten) are separate characters.
When originally devised, the half-width katakana were represented by a single byte each, as in
JIS X 0201, again in line with the capabilities of contemporary computer technology.

In the late 1970s, two-byte character sets such as JIS X 0208 were introduced to support the full
range of Japanese characters, including katakana, hiragana and kanji. Their display forms were
designed to fit into an approximately square array of pixels, hence the name "full-width". For
backward compatibility, separate support for half-width katakana has continued to be available
in modern multi-byte encoding schemes such as Unicode, by having two separate blocks of
characters – one displayed as usual (full-width) katakana, the other displayed as half-width
katakana.

Although often said to be obsolete, the half-width katakana are still used in many systems and
encodings. For example, the titles of mini discs can only be entered in ASCII or half-width
katakana, and half-width katakana are commonly used in computerized cash register displays,
on shop receipts, and Japanese digital television and DVD subtitles. Several popular Japanese
encodings such as EUC-JP, Unicode and Shift JIS have half-width katakana code as well as full-
width. By contrast, ISO-2022-JP has no half-width katakana, and is mainly used over SMTP and
NNTP.

Unicode[edit]
Main articles: Katakana (Unicode block), Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms (Unicode block),
Enclosed CJK Letters and Months (Unicode block), Katakana Phonetic Extensions (Unicode
block), Kana Supplement (Unicode block), and Small Kana Extension (Unicode block)

Katakana was added to the Unicode Standard in October, 1991 with the release of version 1.0.

The Unicode block for (full-width) katakana is U+30A0–U+30FF.

Encoded in this block along with the katakana are the nakaguro word-separation middle dot,
the chōon vowel extender, the katakana iteration marks, and a ligature of コト sometimes
used in vertical writing.

Katakana[1]

Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)

0123456789ABCDEF

U+30Ax ゠ ァ ア ィ イ ゥ ウ ェ エ ォ オ カ ガ キ ギ ク

U+30Bx グ ケ ゲ コ ゴ サ ザ シ ジ ス ズ セ ゼ ソ ゾ タ

U+30Cx ダ チ ヂ ッ ツ ヅ テ デ ト ド ナ ニ ヌ ネ ノ ハ

U+30Dx バ パ ヒ ビ ピ フ ブ プ ヘ ベ ペ ホ ボ ポ マ ミ

U+30Ex ム メ モ ャ ヤ ュ ユ ョ ヨ ラ リ ル レ ロ ヮ ワ

U+30Fx ヰ ヱ ヲ ン ヴ ヵ ヶ ヷ ヸ ヹ ヺ ・ ー ヽ ヾ ヿ

Notes

1.^ As of Unicode version 13.0

Half-width equivalents to the usual full-width katakana also exist in Unicode. These are
encoded within the Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms block (U+FF00–U+FFEF) (which also includes
full-width forms of Latin characters, for instance), starting at U+FF65 and ending at U+FF9F
(characters U+FF61–U+FF64 are half-width punctuation marks). This block also includes the
half-width dakuten and handakuten. The full-width versions of these characters are found in
the Hiragana block.

Katakana subset of Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms[1]

Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)

0123456789ABCDEF

... (U+FF00–U+FF64 omitted)

U+FF6x ･ ｦ ｧ ｨ ｩ ｪ ｫ ｬ ｭ ｮ ｯ

U+FF7x ｰ ｱ ｲ ｳ ｴ ｵ ｶ ｷ ｸ ｹ ｺ ｻ ｼ ｽ ｾ ｿ

U+FF8x ﾀ ﾁ ﾂ ﾃ ﾄ ﾅ ﾆ ﾇ ﾈ ﾉ ﾊ ﾋ ﾌ ﾍ ﾎ ﾏ

U+FF9x ﾐ ﾑ ﾒ ﾓ ﾔ ﾕ ﾖ ﾗ ﾘ ﾙ ﾚ ﾛ ﾜ ﾝ ﾞ ﾟ

... (U+FFA0–U+FFEF omitted)

Notes

1.^ As of Unicode version 13.0

Circled katakana are code points U+32D0–U+32FE in the Enclosed CJK Letters and Months block
(U+3200–U+32FF). A circled ン (n) is not included.

Katakana subset of Enclosed CJK Letters and Months[1]

Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)

0123456789ABCDEF

... (U+3200–U+32CF omitted)

U+32Dx ㋐ ㋑ ㋒ ㋓ ㋔ ㋕ ㋖ ㋗ ㋘ ㋙ ㋚ ㋛ ㋜ ㋝ ㋞ ㋟

U+32Ex ㋠ ㋡ ㋢ ㋣ ㋤ ㋥ ㋦ ㋧ ㋨ ㋩ ㋪ ㋫ ㋬ ㋭ ㋮ ㋯

U+32Fx ㋰ ㋱ ㋲ ㋳ ㋴ ㋵ ㋶ ㋷ ㋸ ㋹ ㋺ ㋻ ㋼ ㋽ ㋾ ㋿

Notes

1.^ As of Unicode version 13.0

Extensions to Katakana for phonetic transcription of Ainu and other languages were added to
the Unicode standard in March 2002 with the release of version 3.2.

The Unicode block for Katakana Phonetic Extensions is U+31F0–U+31FF:

Katakana Phonetic Extensions[1]

Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)

0123456789ABCDEF

U+31Fx ㇰ ㇱ ㇲ ㇳ ㇴ ㇵ ㇶ ㇷ ㇸ ㇹ ㇺ ㇻ ㇼ ㇽ ㇾ ㇿ

Notes

1.^ As of Unicode version 13.0

Historic and variant forms of Japanese kana characters were added to the Unicode standard in
October 2010 with the release of version 6.0.

The Unicode block for Kana Supplement is U+1B000–U+1B0FF:

Kana Supplement[1]

Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)

0123456789ABCDEF

U+1B00x 𛀀 𛀁 𛀂 𛀃 𛀄 𛀅 𛀆 𛀇 𛀈 𛀉 𛀊 𛀋 𛀌 𛀍 𛀎 𛀏

U+1B01x 𛀐 𛀑 𛀒 𛀓 𛀔 𛀕 𛀖 𛀗 𛀘 𛀙 𛀚 𛀛 𛀜 𛀝 𛀞 𛀟

U+1B02x 𛀠 𛀡 𛀢 𛀣 𛀤 𛀥 𛀦 𛀧 𛀨 𛀩 𛀪 𛀫 𛀬 𛀭 𛀮 𛀯

U+1B03x 𛀰 𛀱 𛀲 𛀳 𛀴 𛀵 𛀶 𛀷 𛀸 𛀹 𛀺 𛀻 𛀼 𛀽 𛀾 𛀿

U+1B04x 𛁀 𛁁 𛁂 𛁃 𛁄 𛁅 𛁆 𛁇 𛁈 𛁉 𛁊 𛁋 𛁌 𛁍 𛁎 𛁏

U+1B05x 𛁐 𛁑 𛁒 𛁓 𛁔 𛁕 𛁖 𛁗 𛁘 𛁙 𛁚 𛁛 𛁜 𛁝 𛁞 𛁟

U+1B06x 𛁠 𛁡 𛁢 𛁣 𛁤 𛁥 𛁦 𛁧 𛁨 𛁩 𛁪 𛁫 𛁬 𛁭 𛁮 𛁯

U+1B07x 𛁰 𛁱 𛁲 𛁳 𛁴 𛁵 𛁶 𛁷 𛁸 𛁹 𛁺 𛁻 𛁼 𛁽 𛁾 𛁿

U+1B08x 𛂀 𛂁 𛂂 𛂃 𛂄 𛂅 𛂆 𛂇 𛂈 𛂉 𛂊 𛂋 𛂌 𛂍 𛂎 𛂏

U+1B09x 𛂐 𛂑 𛂒 𛂓 𛂔 𛂕 𛂖 𛂗 𛂘 𛂙 𛂚 𛂛 𛂜 𛂝 𛂞 𛂟

U+1B0Ax 𛂠 𛂡 𛂢 𛂣 𛂤 𛂥 𛂦 𛂧 𛂨 𛂩 𛂪 𛂫 𛂬 𛂭 𛂮 𛂯

U+1B0Bx 𛂰 𛂱 𛂲 𛂳 𛂴 𛂵 𛂶 𛂷 𛂸 𛂹 𛂺 𛂻 𛂼 𛂽 𛂾 𛂿
U+1B0Cx 𛃀 𛃁 𛃂 𛃃 𛃄 𛃅 𛃆 𛃇 𛃈 𛃉 𛃊 𛃋 𛃌 𛃍 𛃎 𛃏

U+1B0Dx 𛃐 𛃑 𛃒 𛃓 𛃔 𛃕 𛃖 𛃗 𛃘 𛃙 𛃚 𛃛 𛃜 𛃝 𛃞 𛃟

U+1B0Ex 𛃠 𛃡 𛃢 𛃣 𛃤 𛃥 𛃦 𛃧 𛃨 𛃩 𛃪 𛃫 𛃬 𛃭 𛃮 𛃯

U+1B0Fx 𛃰 𛃱 𛃲 𛃳 𛃴 𛃵 𛃶 𛃷 𛃸 𛃹 𛃺 𛃻 𛃼 𛃽 𛃾 𛃿

Notes

1.^ As of Unicode version 13.0

The Unicode block for Small Kana Extension is U+1B130–U+1B16F:

Small Kana Extension[1][2]

Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)

0123456789ABCDEF

U+1B13x

U+1B14x

U+1B15x 𛅐 𛅑 𛅒

U+1B16x 𛅤 𛅥 𛅦 𛅧

Notes

1.^ As of Unicode version 13.0

2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

Katakana in other Unicode blocks:

 Dakuten and handakuten diacritics are located in the Hiragana block:

o U+3099 COMBINING KATAKANA-HIRAGANA VOICED SOUND MARK (non-spacing
dakuten): ゙
o U+309A COMBINING KATAKANA-HIRAGANA SEMI-VOICED SOUND MARK (non-
spacing handakuten): ゚
 o U+309B KATAKANA-HIRAGANA VOICED SOUND MARK (spacing dakuten): ゛
o U+309C KATAKANA-HIRAGANA SEMI-VOICED SOUND MARK (spacing
handakuten): ゜
 Two katakana-based emoji are in the Enclosed Ideographic Supplement block:
o U+1F201 SQUARED KATAKANA KOKO ('here' sign): 🈁
o U+1F202 SQUARED KATAKANA SA ('service' sign): 🈂
 A katakana-based Japanese TV symbol from the ARIB STD-B24 standard is in the
Enclosed Ideographic Supplement block:
o U+1F213 SQUARED KATAKANA DE ('data broadcasting service linked with a main
program' symbol): 🈓

Furthermore, as of Unicode 13.0, the following combinatory sequences have been explicitly
named, despite having no precomposed symbols in the katakana block. Font designers may
want to optimize the display of these composed glyphs. Some of them are mostly used for
writing the Ainu language, the others are called bidakuon in Japanese. Other, arbitrary
combinations with U+309A handakuten are also possible.

Katakana named sequences

Unicode Named Character Sequences Database

Sequence name Codepoints Glyph

KATAKANA LETTER BIDAKUON NGA U+30AB U+309A カ゚

KATAKANA LETTER BIDAKUON NGI U+30AD U+309A キ゚

KATAKANA LETTER BIDAKUON NGU U+30AF U+309A ク゚

KATAKANA LETTER BIDAKUON NGE U+30B1 U+309A ケ゚

KATAKANA LETTER BIDAKUON NGO U+30B3 U+309A コ゚

KATAKANA LETTER AINU CE U+30BB U+309A セ゚

KATAKANA LETTER AINU TU U+30C4 U+309A ツ゚

KATAKANA LETTER AINU TO U+30C8 U+309A ト゚

KATAKANA LETTER AINU P U+31F7 U+309A ㇷ゚