In
Japanese writing
The modern Japanese writing system uses a combination of logographic kanji, which are adopted Chinese characters, and syllabic kana. Kana itself consists of a pair of syllabaries: hiragana, used primarily for native or naturalised Japanese wor ...
, the
kana お (
hiragana) and オ (
katakana) occupy the fifth place, between
え
In Japanese writing, the kana え (hiragana) and エ (katakana) ( romanised ''e'') occupy the fourth place, between う and お, in the modern Gojūon (五十音) system of collating kana. In the Iroha, they occupy the 34th, between こ and ...
and
か
Ka (hiragana: か, katakana: カ) is one of the Japanese kana, which each represent one mora. Both represent . The shapes of these kana both originate from 加.
The character can be combined with a dakuten, to form が in hiragana, ガ in kat ...
, in the modern
Gojūon (五十音) system of
collating
Collation is the assembly of written information into a standard order. Many systems of collation are based on numerical order or alphabetical order, or extensions and combinations thereof. Collation is a fundamental element of most office filin ...
kana. In the
Iroha, they occupy the 27th, between
の and
く. In the table at right (ordered by columns, from right to left), お lies in the first column (あ行, "column A") and the fifth row (お段, "row O"). Both represent
.
Derivation
お and オ originate, via
man'yōgana, from the
kanji 於.
Variant forms
Scaled-down versions of the kana (ぉ, ォ) are used to express
morae
A mora (plural ''morae'' or ''moras''; often symbolized μ) is a basic timing unit in the phonology of some spoken languages, equal to or shorter than a syllable. For example, a short syllable such as ''ba'' consists of one mora (''monomoraic'') ...
foreign to the Japanese language, such as フォ (fo).
Stroke order
The hiragana お is made with three
stroke
A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...
s:
#A horizontal line from left to right.
#A stroke consisting of a vertical line, a small diagonal line going upwards and to the left, and an open curve heading right and downwards.
#A small curved stroke on the right.
The katakana オ is made with three strokes:
# At the top, a horizontal stroke from left to right.
# A downward vertical stroke cutting through the first stroke, with a small hook at the end facing left.
# At the intersection of the first two strokes, a diagonal line going downwards and to the left.
Other communicative representations
* Full Braille representation
When lengthening "-o" syllables in Japanese braille, a chōon is always used, as in standard katakana usage instead of adding an お / オ.
*
Computer encodings
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:O (Kana)
Specific kana