Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

O (kana)

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transliteration
  
o

katakana origin
  

hiragana origin
  

spelling kana
  
大阪のオ (Ōsaka no "o")

O (kana)

In Japanese writing, the kana (hiragana) and (katakana) occupy the fifth place, between え and か, in the modern Gojūon (五十音) system of collating kana. In the Iroha, they occupy the 27th, between の and く. In the table at right (ordered by columns, from right to left), お lies in the first column (あ行, "column A") and the fifth row (お段, "row O"). Both represent [o].

Contents

Derivation

お and オ originate, via man'yōgana, from the kanji 於.

Variant forms

Scaled-down versions of the kana (ぉ, ォ) are used to express morae foreign to the Japanese language, such as フォ (fo).

Stroke order

The hiragana お is made with three strokes:

  1. A horizontal line from left to right.
  2. A stroke consisting of a vertical line, a small diagonal line going upwards and to the left, and an open curve heading right and downwards.
  3. A small curved stroke on the right.

The katakana オ is made with three strokes:

  1. At the top, a horizontal stroke from left to right.
  2. A downward vertical stroke cutting through the first stroke, with a small hook at the end facing left.
  3. At the intersection of the first two strokes, a diagonal line going downwards and to the left.

Other communicative representations

  • Computer encodings
  • Braille
  • Japanese semaphore
  • Phonetic alphabet: 「大阪のオ」 ("o as in Osaka")
  • Morse code: ・-・・・
  • References

    O (kana) Wikipedia