We (kana)

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Hiragana	Katakana
Transliteration:	[we]
Hiragana Man'yōgana:	恵
Katakana Man'yōgana:	恵
Unicode:
kana - gojūon n wa ra ya ma ha na ta sa ka a tsu wi ri mi hi ni chi shi ki i ゛ ru yu mu fu nu tsu su ku u ー we re me he ne te se ke e wo ro yo mo ho no to so ko o

ゑ, in hiragana, or ヱ in katakana, is an obsolete Japanese kana, each of which represent one mora.

It is presumed that ゑ represented (IPA: /we/ (help·info)). It is thought that after ゑ and え came to denote the same pronunciation as イェ (IPA: /je/ (help·info)) in the Kamakura period that they came to be pronounced as the modern エ (IPA: /e/)^{[citation needed]}; there is also the view that the pronunciation difference between the two kana remained until the Taishō period.

This kana became obsolete in 1946, and is now rare in everyday usage. In fact, in onomatopoeia or foreign words, the katakana form ウェ (we) is preferred (as, ウェスト for "west"). One modern-day usage of this kana is in the name of the beer Yebisu, which is actually pronounced "Ebisu", and is occasionally written "ヱビス" or "ゑびす".

[edit] Stroke order

[edit] See also

• U (kana)
• E (kana)

Look up ゑ or ヱ in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.