Meaning

Primary

Kana

Word Type

noun

Explanation

The temporary names. These are the kana (that's hiragana and katakana). Why are kana the "temporary names" though? Maybe they were just meant to be a temporary way to write the names of the kanji you didn't know how to write yet. That's just a guess, but it should help you remember that this word means "kana."

Reading

かな
  • Kyoko
    (Tokyo accent, female)
  • Kenichi
    (Tokyo accent, male)

Explanation

Okay, so uses the rare kun'yomi reading , which you haven't learned yet, but luckily it's the same as the on'yomi you have learned! And also uses a kun'yomi reading that you learned with the vocab word (). So you sort of know these readings already, but it's a lot to take in, so here's a mnemonic to help:

The reading is so tricky for kana that it makes you say かな… (I wonder…) whenever you try to read it. You keep thinking, "Is the reading kana, かな? Or could it be something else, かな?" You're just not sure.

Context

Pattern of Use

Common Word Combinations

  • 仮名の文

    a sentence written in kana

    仮名の文字

    kana character

    仮名の形

    the shape of kana

Context Sentences

もう全ての仮名を学びましたか?

Have you learned all the kana?

仮名だけで書かれた文は、分かりにくいです。

Sentences written only in kana are difficult to understand.

この本には、ふり仮名がついてますか?

Does this book have kana?

Kanji Composition