Small ke

The small ke () is a Japanese character, typographically a small form of the katakana character ke.

While identical in shape to a small , is actually an abbreviation for the kanji , specifically by writing half of the bamboo radical (). , alternatively written as (or ), is a common Japanese counter word. is also as an abbreviation for the Japanese conjunctive particle .

It is unrelated to the katakana character (which is an abbreviation for ) but is sometimes written as a large character .

Although it resembles the katakana character ke (), it is pronounced ka (sometimes ko) when it specifies a counter, or ga when it specifies a conjunction, but not ke.

When used as a counter, the katakana or are sometimes used instead. When used as a counter but pronounced ko, the katakana is sometimes used instead (chiefly in informal writing).

However, is not used as a general abbreviation for or . For example, kojin, "individual" will not be written as (except possibly as very informal ryakuji; contrast with , as an abbreviation for ). Note that is used in various words, but is generally only used as a counter, or as a variant of .

The most familiar example as a counter is for counting months, as in (ik-ka-getsu, one month [duration]) where it is pronounced ka. Other common examples are places (~ka-sho) and countries (~ka-koku).

An example where it is pronounced as ko is when counting small objects, such as pieces of fruit or candy, where one may write (ik-ko), rather than the more formal ; this is particularly common in hand-written signs at shops, though is also common.

When used as the conjunction (~-ga-~), it has the same meaning as (~-no-~) which is more common in modern Japanese and is commonly used in place names, though rare in everyday words.

One relatively common word using is karigane (kari-ga-ne, goose-'s-sound, 'the cry of the wild goose').

In place names, it is generally a conjunction, and hence pronounced ga, particularly as (-ga-hara) "field of ...", as in (Aokigahara, field of green trees). It may also be a counter, where it will generally be pronounced ka, as in (Mikkabi, place name, "three days").

In some cases both and (and even ) are used to write a place name, depending on the specific place with a given name or usage. This may have also changed over time, so older documents may use a different form, and older institutions may use an outdated spelling. The most conspicuous example is Jiyūgaoka, which refers to a number of places throughout Japan (see ), some of which officially use , , or . The best-known of these is a popular neighborhood in Tokyo, whose official form is , but it was formerly , changing in 1965 (the station changed in 1966), and some businesses use the older form.

The hiragana version of the character exists in Unicode as , but it is virtually unused.

External links

• Monash FAQ