kana

American  

[kah-nuh, kah-nah] / ˈkɑ nə, ˈkɑ nɑ /

noun

1. a Japanese syllabic script consisting of 71 symbols and having two written varieties.

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kana British  

/ ˈkɑːnə /

noun

1. the Japanese syllabary, which consists of two written varieties See hiragana katakana

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Etymology

Origin of kana

1720–30; < Japanese; earlier kanna, kari-na makeshift names (i.e., characters) as opposed to ma-na true characters, i.e., kanji

Example Sentences

The most famous work written in kana is The Tale of Genji, the story of the romantic escapades of Hikaru Genji, a fictional emperor’s son.

From Textbooks • Apr. 19, 2023

Thus a new script called kana began to develop, to more accurately depict the way the words were pronounced in Japanese.

From Textbooks • Apr. 19, 2023

They are complicated mixtures of punctuation, Japanese kana, foreign letters, and even scientific symbols, resembling something Dr. Frankenstein might have built had he majored in linguistics rather than played God.

From Slate • Dec. 7, 2015

Some syllabaries persist today, the most important being the kana syllabary that the Japanese use for telegrams, bank statements, and texts for blind readers.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

Similarly, Japan continues to use its horrendously cumbersome kanji writing system in preference to efficient alphabets or Japan’s own efficient kana syllabary—because the prestige attached to kanji is so great.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond