Wi (kana)
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kana - gojūon | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
n | wa | ra | ya | ma | ha | na | ta | sa | ka | a | |
tsu | wi | ri | mi | hi | ni | chi | shi | ki | i | ||
゛ | ru | yu | mu | fu | nu | tsu | su | ku | u | ||
ー | we | re | me | he | ne | te | se | ke | e | ||
wo | ro | yo | mo | ho | no | to | so | ko | o |
ゐ, in hiragana, or ヰ in katakana, is one of the Japanese kana, which each represent one mora. Although it is often transliterated as "wi", this kana was usually pronounced as "i" before it was deemed obsolete, and replaced with い and イ.
This kana is obsolescent (it was commonly used before World War II), and rare in everyday usage. In fact, in onomatopoeia and foreign words, the katakana form ウィ (U-[small-i]) is preferred.