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Ru (kana)

Character of the Japanese writing system

Ru (hiragana: る, katakana: ル) is one of the Japanese kana, each of which represent one mora. The hiragana is written in one stroke; the katakana in two. Both represent the sound [ɾɯ] . The Ainu language uses a small katakana ㇽ to represent a final r sound after an u sound (ウㇽ ur).

Form Rōmaji Hiragana Katakana
Normal r-
(ら行 ra-gyō)
ru
ruu, rwu
るう, るぅ
るー
ルウ, ルゥ
ルー
Other additional forms
Form (rw-)
Romaji Hiragana Katakana
rwa るぁ, るゎ ルァ, ルヮ
rwi るぃ ルィ
(rwu) (るぅ) (ルゥ)
rwe るぇ ルェ
rwo るぉ ルォ

01Stroke order

The hiragana for ru (る) is made with one stroke, and its katakana form (ル) is made with two.

る (hiragana) begins with a horizontal stroke to the right, followed by a slightly longer, angular stroke going down and to the left. Finally, a curve and loop are added to the bottom that somewhat resembles the hiragana no (の). The character as a whole is visually similar to the hiragana for ro (ろ).

ル (katakana) is made by first making a curved stroke going down and to the left, and is followed by a stroke that first goes straight down, and then a curved line going up and to the right.

Stroke order in writing る
Stroke order in writing る
Stroke order in writing ル
Stroke order in writing ル

02Other communicative representations

  • Full Braille representation
る / ル in Japanese Braille
る / ル
ru
るう / ルー
Other kana based on Braille
りゅ / リュ
ryu
りゅう / リュー
ryū
Character information
Preview
Unicode name HIRAGANA LETTER RU KATAKANA LETTER RU HALFWIDTH KATAKANA LETTER RU KATAKANA LETTER SMALL RU CIRCLED KATAKANA RU
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode12427U+308B12523U+30EB65433U+FF9912797U+31FD13048U+32F8
UTF-8227 130 139E3 82 8B227 131 171E3 83 AB239 190 153EF BE 99227 135 189E3 87 BD227 139 184E3 8B B8
Numeric character referenceるるルルルルㇽㇽ㋸㋸
Shift JIS (plain)130 23382 E9131 13983 8B217D9
Shift JIS-2004130 23382 E9131 13983 8B217D9131 25083 FA
EUC-JP (plain)164 235A4 EB165 235A5 EB142 2178E D9
EUC-JIS-2004164 235A4 EB165 235A5 EB142 2178E D9166 252A6 FC
GB 18030164 235A4 EB165 235A5 EB132 49 155 5184 31 9B 33129 57 189 5581 39 BD 37
EUC-KR / UHC170 235AA EB171 235AB EB
Big5 (non-ETEN kana)198 239C6 EF199 165C7 A5
Big5 (ETEN / HKSCS)199 114C7 72199 231C7 E7
Stroke order in writing る
Stroke order in writing る
Stroke order in writing ル
Stroke order in writing ル
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Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Ru (kana), written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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