# Wa (kana)

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{{Infobox kana
|Hiragana image = Japanese_Hiragana_kyokashotai_WA.svg
|Katakana image = Japanese_Katakana_kyokashotai_WA.svg
|Transliteration = wa
|Hiragana Manyogana = 和
|Katakana Manyogana = 和
|Other Manyogana = 和 丸 輪
|Braille = 32px|⠄
|Unicode = U+308F, U+30EF
|flag1=2|flag2=9
|Footnotes = 
|Spelling= わらびのワ [Warabi](/source/Bracken) no "wa"
}}

{{Kana gojuon sidebar}}

'''Wa''' ([hiragana](/source/hiragana): わ, [katakana](/source/katakana): ワ) is one of the Japanese [kana](/source/kana), which each represent one [mora](/source/Mora_(linguistics)). It represents {{IPA|[wa]}} and has origins in the character 和. There is also a small ゎ/ヮ, that is used to write the morae /kwa/ and /gwa/ (くゎ, ぐゎ), which are almost obsolete in contemporary standard Japanese but still exist in the [Ryukyuan languages](/source/Ryukyuan_languages). A few loanwords such as {{nihongo||シークヮーサー|[shiikwaasa](/source/Citrus_depressa)|from [Okinawan language](/source/Okinawan_language)}} and {{nihongo|[Musica Antiqua Köln](/source/Musica_Antiqua_K%C3%B6ln)|ムジカ・アンティクヮ・ケルン|Mujika Antiikuwa Kerun|a German early music group}} contain this kana in Japanese. Katakana ワ is also sometimes written with [dakuten](/source/dakuten), ヷ, to represent a {{IPA|/va/}} sound in foreign words; however, most [IMEs](/source/Input_Method_Editor) lack a convenient way to write this. It is far more common to represent the /va/ sound with the [digraph](/source/Digraph_(orthography)) ヴァ.

{|class="wikitable"
!Form
![Rōmaji](/source/R%C5%8Dmaji)
![Hiragana](/source/Hiragana)
![Katakana](/source/Katakana)
|-
!rowspan="2"|Normal ''w-''<br>(わ行 ''wa-gyō'')
|''wa''
|わ
|ワ
|-
|''waa''<br>''wā''
|わあ<br>わー
|ワア<br>ワー
|}

The kana [は (ha)](/source/Ha_(kana)) is read as "wa" when it represents a [particle](/source/Japanese_particle).

The katakana {{nihongo||ヷ|'''va'''}}, which is a ''wa'' with a ''[dakuten](/source/dakuten)'' ("voiced mark"), along with {{nihongo||ヴ|[vu](/source/U_(kana))}}, was first used by the educator [Fukuzawa Yukichi](/source/Fukuzawa_Yukichi) for transcribing English in 1860<ref>{{cite book|lang=ja|quote={{lang|ja|安政五年余が江戶に{{ruby|來|きた}}りて{{ruby|初|はじ}}めて{{ruby|出|し{{hentaigana|𛃥}}つ}}{{ruby|版|ぱん}}したるは{{ruby|華|くわ}}{{ruby|英|えい}}{{ruby|通|つう}}{{ruby|語|ご}}なり是れは{{ruby|飜|ほん}}{{ruby|譯|やく}}と云ふ可き{{ruby|程|ほど}}のものにも非ず{{ruby|原|げん}}{{ruby|書|しよ}}の{{ruby|橫|よこ}}{{ruby|文|も}}{{ruby|字|じ}}に{{ruby|假|か}}{{ruby|名|な}}を{{ruby|附|つ}}けたるまでにして{{ruby|事|こと}}{{ruby|固|もと}}より易し{{ruby|唯|たゞ}}{{ruby|原|げん}}{{ruby|書|しよ}}のVの字を{{ruby|正|せい}}{{ruby|音|{{hentaigana|𛀕}}ん}}に近からしめんと欲し{{ruby|試|こゝろみ}}にウワの{{ruby|假|か}}{{ruby|名|な}}に{{ruby|濁|に}}{{ruby|點|ごり}}を附けてヴヷと記したるは{{ruby|當|たう}}{{ruby|時|じ}}{{ruby|思|{{hentaigana|𛀕}}もひ}}{{ruby|付|つき}}の{{ruby|新|しん}}{{ruby|案|あん}}と云ふ可きのみ}}|pp=418–419|script-title=ja:福澤全集緖言|date=5 December 1897|authorlink=Fukuzawa Yukichi|last=Fukuzawa|first=Yukichi|publisher=Jiji Shinpō Sha|location=Kyōbashi, Tokyo|url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1083585/1/26}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
|last=Vance
|first=Timothy J.
|year=1987
|title=An Introduction to Japanese Phonology
|location=Albany, New York
|publisher=State University of New York Press
|isbn=978-0-88706-360-2
|p=32|chapter=Chapter 4: Consonants
}}</ref> in his English-Japanese dictionary, which featured such entries as {{ruby|''Heaven''|{{lang|ja|ヒーヴヌ}}}} (''Hīvunu''), {{ruby|''Venus''|{{lang|ja|ヴェヌス}}}} (''Venusu''), {{ruby|''River''|{{lang|ja|リーヷル}}}} (''Rīvaru''), etc.<ref>{{cite book|lang=ja|script-title=ja:増訂華英通語|authorlink=Fukuzawa Yukichi|last=Fukuzawa|first=Yukichi|year=1860|url=https://iiif.lib.keio.ac.jp/FKZ/F7-A01-01/pdf/F7-A01-01.pdf|volume=1|location=Tokyo}}</ref> It is intended to represent a voiced labiodental fricative {{IPAblink|v}} in foreign languages, but the actual pronunciation by Japanese speakers may be closer to a voiced bilabial fricative {{IPAblink|β}} (see {{sectionlink|Japanese phonology#Voiced bilabial fricative}}).

==Stroke order==
{|
|-
| thumb|upright|alt=Stroke order in writing わ|Stroke order in writing わ
| thumb|upright|alt=Stroke order in writing ワ|Stroke order in writing ワ
|}

thumb|none|280x60px|Stroke order in writing わ
thumb|none|280x60px|Stroke order in writing ワ

==Other communicative representations==
{{Letter reps|lang=Japanese|radio={{lang|ja|わらびのワ}}|radio_trans=Warabi no "Wa"|morse=-・- |morse_sound=K morse code.ogg|flag_img=ICS Kilo.svg|sign_img=|sem1=Japanese Semaphore Basic Stroke 2.svg|sem2=Japanese Semaphore Basic Stroke 9.svg|braille_img=Japanese Wa Braille.svg|braille=⠄}}

* Full Braille representation
{| class="wikitable nowrap" style="text-align:center"
|- 
!colspan=4| わ / ワ in [Japanese Braille](/source/Japanese_Braille)
|-
| わ / ワ <br />'''wa''' || <span class="explain" title="Obsolete in modern Japanese.">ヷ <br />'''va'''</span>  || わあ / ワー <br />'''wā''' || <span class="explain" title="Obsolete in modern Japanese.">ヷー <br />'''vā'''</span> 
|-
|{{Braille cell|type=kana|size=30px|わ}}|| {{Braille cell|type=kana|size=30px|5|わ}}|| {{Braille cell|type=kana|size=30px|わ|25}}||{{Braille cell|type=kana|size=30px|5|わ|25}}
|}

* [Computer encodings](/source/Character_encoding)
{{charmap
|308F|name1=Hiragana Letter Wa
|30EF|name2=Katakana Letter Wa
|FF9C|name3=Halfwidth Katakana Letter Wa
|1F2C0|name4=Halfwidth Katakana Letter Small Wa
|map1=[Shift JIS](/source/Shift_JIS)<ref name="shift_jis-utc">{{cite web |url=https://www.unicode.org/Public/MAPPINGS/OBSOLETE/EASTASIA/JIS/SHIFTJIS.TXT |title=Shift-JIS to Unicode |author=Unicode Consortium |author-link=Unicode Consortium |date=2015-12-02 |orig-year=1994-03-08}}</ref>|map1char1=82 ED|map1char2=83 8F|map1char3=DC
|map2=[EUC-JP](/source/EUC-JP)<ref name="euc-jp-2007">{{cite web |url=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/unicode-org/icu/master/icu4c/source/data/mappings/euc-jp-2007.ucm |title=EUC-JP-2007 |author1=Unicode Consortium |author-link1=Unicode Consortium |author2=IBM |author-link2=IBM |work=[International Components for Unicode](/source/International_Components_for_Unicode)}}</ref>|map2char1=A4 EF|map2char2=A5 EF|map2char3=8E DC
|map3=[GB 18030](/source/GB_18030)<ref name="gb18030">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/GB18030-2005|title=GB 18030-2005: Information Technology—Chinese coded character set|last=Standardization Administration of China (SAC)|date=2005-11-18}}</ref>|map3char1=A4 EF|map3char2=A5 EF|map3char3=84 31 9B 36
|map4=[EUC-KR](/source/EUC-KR)<ref name="euc-kr-ibm970">{{cite web |url=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/unicode-org/icu/master/icu4c/source/data/mappings/ibm-970_P110_P110-2006_U2.ucm |title=IBM-970 |author1=Unicode Consortium |author-link1=Unicode Consortium |author2=IBM |author-link2=IBM |work=[International Components for Unicode](/source/International_Components_for_Unicode)}}</ref> / [UHC](/source/Unified_Hangul_Code)<ref name="uhc-ms949">{{cite web |url=https://www.unicode.org/Public/MAPPINGS/VENDORS/MICSFT/WINDOWS/CP949.TXT |title=cp949 to Unicode table |last=Steele |first=Shawn |publisher=[Microsoft](/source/Microsoft) / [Unicode Consortium](/source/Unicode_Consortium) |date=2000}}</ref>|map4char1=AA EF|map4char2=AB EF
|map5=[Big5](/source/Big5) ([non-ETEN kana](/source/Big5))<ref name="big5noneten-utc">{{cite web |url=https://www.unicode.org/Public/MAPPINGS/OBSOLETE/EASTASIA/OTHER/BIG5.TXT |title=BIG5 to Unicode table (complete) |author=Unicode Consortium |author-link=Unicode Consortium |date=2015-12-02 |orig-year=1994-02-11}}</ref>|map5char1=C6 F3|map5char2=C7 A9
|map6=[Big5](/source/Big5) ([ETEN](/source/Big5) / [HKSCS](/source/Hong_Kong_Supplementary_Character_Set))<ref name="big5hkscs-html5">{{cite web |url=https://encoding.spec.whatwg.org/big5.html |title=big5 |work=Encoding Standard |publisher=[WHATWG](/source/WHATWG) |last=van Kesteren |first=Anne |author-link=Anne van Kesteren}}</ref>|map6char1=C7 76|map6char2=C7 EB
}}
{{charmap
|308E|name1=Hiragana Letter Small Wa
|30EE|name2=Katakana Letter Small Wa
|30F7|name3=Katakana Letter Va
|32FB|name4=Circled Katakana Wa
|map1=[Shift JIS](/source/Shift_JIS) (plain)<ref name="shift_jis-utc"/>|map1char1=82 EC|map1char2=83 8E
|map2=Shift JIS ([KanjiTalk 7](/source/MacJapanese))<ref name="macjapanese">{{cite web | url=https://unicode.org/Public/MAPPINGS/VENDORS/APPLE/JAPANESE.TXT | title=Map (external version) from Mac OS Japanese encoding to Unicode 2.1 and later. | author=Apple Computer |author-link=Apple Computer |publisher=Unicode Consortium |date=2005-04-05 |orig-year=1995-04-15}}</ref>|map2char1=82 EC|map2char2=83 8E|map2char3=88 6A
|map3=[Shift JIS-2004](/source/Shift_JIS-2004)<ref name="shift-jis-2004">{{cite web |url=http://x0213.org/codetable/sjis-0213-2004-std.txt |title=Shift_JIS-2004 (JIS X 0213:2004 Appendix 1) vs Unicode mapping table |date=2009-05-03 |author=Project X0213}}</ref>|map3char1=82 EC|map3char2=83 8E|map3char3=84 92
|map4=[EUC-JP](/source/EUC-JP) (plain)<ref name="euc-jp-2007"/>|map4char1=A4 EE|map4char2=A5 EE
|map5=[EUC-JIS-2004](/source/EUC-JIS-2004)<ref name="euc-jis-2004">{{cite web |url=http://x0213.org/codetable/euc-jis-2004-std.txt |title=EUC-JIS-2004 (JIS X 0213:2004 Appendix 3) vs Unicode mapping table |date=2009-05-03 |author=Project X0213}}</ref>|map5char1=A4 EE|map5char2=A5 EE|map5char3=A7 F2
|map6=[GB 18030](/source/GB_18030)<ref name="gb18030"/>|map6char1=A4 EE|map6char2=A5 EE|map6char3=81 39 A7 35
|map7=[EUC-KR](/source/EUC-KR)<ref name="euc-kr-ibm970"/> / [UHC](/source/Unified_Hangul_Code)<ref name="uhc-ms949"/>|map7char1=AA EE|map7char2=AB EE
|map8=[Big5](/source/Big5) ([non-ETEN kana](/source/Big5))<ref name="big5noneten-utc"/>|map8char1=C6 F2|map8char2=C7 A8
|map9=[Big5](/source/Big5) ([ETEN](/source/Big5) / [HKSCS](/source/Hong_Kong_Supplementary_Character_Set))<ref name="big5hkscs-html5"/>|map9char1=C7 75|map9char2=C7 EA
}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Wiktionary|わ|ワ}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wa (Kana)}}
Category:Specific kana

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Wa (kana)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wa_(kana)) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wa_(kana)?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.