Ru (kana)

ru
hiragana
japanese hiragana ru
katakana
japanese katakana ru
transliterationru, lu
hiragana origin
katakana origin
Man'yōgana留 流 類
spelling kana留守居のル Rusui no "ru"
unicodeU+308B, U+30EB
braille⠙

, in hiragana, or in katakana, is one of the Japanese kana, each of which represent one mora. The hiragana is written in one stroke; the katakana in two. Both represent the sound [ɾɯ] . The Ainu language uses a small katakana ㇽ to represent a final r sound after an u sound (ウㇽ ur). The combination of an R-column kana letter with handakuten ゜- る゚ in hiragana, and ル゚ in katakana was introduced to represent [lu] in the early 20th century.[according to whom?]

Form Rōmaji Hiragana Katakana
Normal r-
(ら行 ra-gyō)
ru
ruu, rwu
るう, るぅ
るー
ルウ, ルゥ
ルー
Other additional forms
Form (rw-)
Romaji Hiragana Katakana
rwa るぁ, るゎ ルァ, ルヮ
rwi るぃ ルィ
(rwu) (るぅ) (ルゥ)
rwe るぇ ルェ
rwo るぉ ルォ