真仮名
Japanese edit
Kanji in this term | ||
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真 | 仮 | 名 |
ま Grade: 3 |
かり > が Grade: 5 |
な Grade: 1 |
kun’yomi | irregular | kun’yomi |
Alternative spelling |
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眞假名 (kyūjitai) |
Etymology edit
真 (“true”) + 仮名. It is called "true", as opposed to hiragana and katakana which no longer retain the original shape of the Han characters (kanji) they derive from, even though it is still "false" as a type of 仮名 (kana, literally “false name”) because it is used phonetically. See also 真名 (mana, “non-phonetic kanji”, literally “true name”) and 真片仮名 (shinkatakana, “non-phonetic kanji and katakana”).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
- (history) a syllabary with characters drawn from kanji, such as the 万葉仮名 (Man'yōgana), that is the precursor to hiragana and katakana