I (kana)

i
hiragana
japanese hiragana i
katakana
japanese katakana i
transliterationi
hiragana origin
katakana origin
Man'yōgana伊 怡 以 異 已 移 射 五
spelling kanaいろはのイ
(Iroha no "i")

I ( in hiragana or in katakana) is one of the Japanese kana each of which represents one mora. い is based on the sōsho style of the kanji character 以, and イ is from the radical (left part) of the kanji character 伊. In the modern Japanese system of sound order, it occupies the second position of the mora chart, between and . Additionally, it is the first letter in Iroha, before ろ. Both represent the sound [i]. In the Ainu language, katakana イ is written as y in their Latin-based mora chart, and a small ィ after another katakana represents a diphthong.

Form Rōmaji Hiragana Katakana
Normal a/i/u/e/o
(あ行 a-gyō)
i
ii, yi
ī
いい, いぃ
いー
イイ, イィ
イー
Other additional forms
Form (y-)
Rōmaji Hiragana Katakana
yi いぃ イィ
ye いぇ イェ