hiragana
[heer-uh-gah-nuh; Japanese hee-rah-gah-nah]
- the cursive and more widely used of the two Japanese syllabaries.
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Compare katakana.
Origin of hiragana
1815–25; < Japanese, equivalent to hira ordinary (earlier f(y)ira < *pira) + -gana, combining form of kana kana
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
hiragana
- one of the Japanese systems of syllabic writing based on Chinese cursive ideograms. The more widely used of the two current systems, it is employed in newspapers and general literatureCompare katakana
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Word Origin
from Japanese: flat kana
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for hiragana
n.
from Japanese hiragana, from hira "plain" + kana "borrowed letter(s)."
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper