い (i), hiragana basic
い
i
Vowel i
hiraganabasic2 strokes
Stroke order
Pronunciation
Raise the front of your tongue for i, with your lips relaxed. Think of the vowel in see as a starting point, but keep it short and steady.
katakana counterpart
Similar characters
Words with い
今いまnow
一いちone
医者いしゃdoctor
How to remember it
いTwo narrow strokes stand side by side. Imagine two eels swimming down the page: i.
Where it comes from
以い
い developed from the cursive writing of 以. The simplified strokes became a sound symbol rather than a word with the kanji's meaning.