katakana
Japanese Name:
カタカナ
Romaji Name:
katakana
Description
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Katakana is one of the three writing systems used in Japanese. It is made up of simple, angular characters and is mainly used to write foreign words, names, loanwords, and onomatopoeia. Katakana helps distinguish non-Japanese terms in the text.
History
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Katakana was developed in the early Heian period (9th century) by Buddhist monks as a shorthand system for reading and annotating Chinese texts. Each katakana character was derived from parts of a corresponding kanji character. Over time, it became a standardized script for writing foreign loanwords, technical terms, and scientific words in Japanese.
Today, katakana is an essential part of Japanese writing, alongside hiragana and kanji, and is widely used in education, media, and daily life.