Character  メ 
      Unicode name KATAKANA LETTER ME
      Codepoint U+30E1

      Japanese

      Stroke order
      メ-bw.png

      Etymology

      Simplified in the Heian period from the man'yōgana kanji .

      Pronunciation

      Syllable

      (Hepburn romanization me)

      1. The katakana syllable  (me), whose equivalent in hiragana is  (me). It is the thirty-fourth syllable of the gojūon order, and its position in gojūon tables is (MA-gyō, E-dan; “row MA, section E”).

      Usage notes

      Unlike the hiragana system, used for Japanese language words that kanji does not cover, the katakana syllabary is used primarily for transcription of foreign language words into Japanese and the writing of loan words (collectively gairaigo), as well as to represent onomatopoeia, technical and scientific terms, and the names of plants, animals, and minerals. Names of Japanese companies, as well as certain Japanese language words, are also written in katakana rather than the other systems.[edit]

      Related terms

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      Last modified on 17 December 2012, at 18:04