平仮名

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Hiragana

Wikipedia

Japanese

Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:

平仮名

Wikipedia ^ja

Kanji in this term
平	仮	名
ひら Grade: 3	か > が Grade: 5	な Grade: 1
kun'yomi

Alternative spelling
平假名 (kyūjitai)

Etymology

Compound of 平 (hira, “flat, smooth”) +‎ 仮名 (kana). The kana changes to gana as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ひらがな [hìrágáꜜnà] (Nakadaka – [3])^[1][2][3]
• (Tokyo) ひらがな [hìrágáná] (Heiban – [0])^[1]
• (Tokyo) ひらがな [hìrágánáꜜ] (Odaka – [4])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [çiɾa̠ɡa̠na̠]

Noun

平(ひら)仮(が)名(な) • (hiragana) 

1. hiragana, a Japanese syllabary script
   • 1603–1604, Nippo Jisho, page 242:

     Firagana. ヒラガナ (平仮名) 日本の文字の一種.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Synonyms

• (now rare) 女(おんな)手(で) (onnade), 女(おんな)文(も)字(じ) (onnamoji), 草(そう)仮(が)名(な) (sōgana)

See also

• 漢(かん)字(じ) (kanji)
• 片(かた)仮(か)名(な) (katakana)
• 万(まん)葉(よう)仮(が)名(な) (man'yōgana)
• ローマ字(じ) (rōmaji)

References

1. NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN
2. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
3. Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

• Doi, Tadao (1603–1604) Hōyaku Nippo Jisho (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, published 1980, →ISBN.