Chi (kana)

Hiragana	Katakana
Transliteration:	chi, ti
Hiragana Man'yōgana:	知
Katakana Man'yōgana:	千
kana gojūon n wa ra ya ma ha na ta sa ka a sokuon wi ri mi hi ni chi shi ki i dakuten ru yu mu fu nu tsu su ku u chōonpu we re me he ne te se ke e wo ro yo mo ho no to so ko o

ち, in hiragana, or チ in katakana, is one of the Japanese kana, which each represent one mora. Both are phonemically /ti/ although for phonological reasons, the actual pronunciation is [t͡ɕi] ( listen).

The kanji for one thousand (千, sen), appears similar to チ, and at one time they were related, but today チ is used as phonetic, while the kanji carries an entirely unrelated meaning .

Many onomatopoeic words beginning with ち pertain to things that are small or quick.^[1]

The dakuten forms ぢ, ヂ, pronounced the same as the dakuten forms of the shi kana in most dialects (see yotsugana), are uncommon. They are primarily used for indicating a voiced consonant in the middle of a compound word (see rendaku), and they can never begin a word, although some people will write the word for hemorrhoids (normally じ) as ぢ for emphasis. Additionally, the dakuten form of the shi character is sometimes used when transliterating "di", as opposed to チ's dakuten form; for example, Aladdin is written as アラジン Arajin, and radio is written as ラジオ.

In the Ainu language, チ by itself is pronounced [tʃi], and can be combined with the katakana ヤ, ユ, エ, and ヨ to write the other [tʃ] sounds as well as [ts] sounds. The combination チェ (pronounced [tse]), is interchangeable with セ゚.

Form variants

Form	Rōmaji	Hiragana	Katakana
Normal ch- (た行 ta-gyō)	chi	ち	チ
	chii chī	ちい, ちぃ ちー	チイ, チィ チー
Addition yōon ch- (ちゃ行 cha-gyō)	cha	ちゃ	チャ
	chaa chā, chah	ちゃあ ちゃー	チャア チャー
	chu	ちゅ	チュ
	chuu chū	ちゅう ちゅー	チュウ チュー
	cho	ちょ	チョ
	chou choo chō, choh	ちょう ちょお ちょー	チョウ チョオ チョー
Addition dakuten d- (j/z-) (だ行 da-gyō)	di (ji, zi)	ぢ	ヂ
	dii (jii, zii) dī (jī, zī)	ぢい, ぢぃ ぢー	ヂイ, ヂィ ヂー
Addition yōon and dakuten dy- (j-) (ぢゃ行 dya-gyō)	dya (ja)	ぢゃ	ヂャ
	dyaa (jaa) dyā (jā), dyah (jah)	ぢゃあ ぢゃー	ヂャア ヂャー
	dyu (ju)	ぢゅ	ヂュ
	dyuu (juu) dyū (jū)	ぢゅう ぢゅー	ヂュウ ヂュー
	dyo (jo)	ぢょ	ヂョ
	dyou (jou) dyoo (joo) dyō (jō), dyoh (joh)	ぢょう ぢょお ぢょー	ヂョウ ヂョオ ヂョー

Other additional forms
Form A (ch-) Romaji Hiragana Katakana (cha) (ちゃ) (チャ) (chi) (ち) (チ) (chu) (ちゅ) (チュ) che ちぇ チェ (cho) (ちょ) (チョ)	Form B (dy/j-) Romaji Hiragana Katakana (dya, ja) (ぢゃ) (ヂャ) (dyi, ji) (ぢぃ, ぢ) (ヂィ, ヂ) (dyu, ju) (ぢゅ) (ヂュ) dye (je) ぢぇ ヂェ (dyo, jo) (ぢょ) (ヂョ)

Stroke order

Stroke order in writing ち

Stroke order in writing チ

Stroke order in writing ち

Stroke order in writing チ

See also

• Shi (kana)
• Hepburn romanization
• Kunrei-shiki romanization

References

1. ^ Hiroko Fukuda, Jazz Up Your Japanese with Onomatopoeia: For All Levels, trans. Tom Gally. New York: Kodansha International (2003): 19 - 20, Introduction, Words Beginning with ち Chi, Indicating Smallness or Quickness.