Katakana

ISO 15924: KanaSyllabary4 total languages
IANA registered: 16 October 2005

Example text

スベテノニンゲンハ、ウマレナガラニシテジユウデアリ、カツ、ソンゲントケンリトニツイテビョウドウデアル

Rendered using a Noto web font where available; falls back to system fonts.

Writing Direction
Direction
Left-to-right
RTL
No
Vertical tradition
East Asian vertical
Source
Unicode CLDR scriptMetadata.txt + app-maintained overrides
Katakana may be used in Japanese vertical text.
Script Properties
Family
Japanese / Kana
Geographic origin
East Asia
Usage status
Living script
OpenType tag
kana
Katakana, a Japanese syllabary derived from component parts of Chinese characters (c. 9th century CE). Primarily used for foreign loanwords, technical terms, and emphasis.

Related Scripts

HiraHiraganaHaniHan (Hanzi, Kanji, Hanja)

Unicode Blocks

KatakanaU+30A0Katakana Phonetic ExtensionsU+31F0Kana SupplementU+1B000Kana Extended-AU+1B100Small Kana ExtensionU+1B130

5 Unicode blocks contain Katakana characters. Browse all Unicode blocks →

The lists below count source attestation, not current or official usage. A language can appear under several scripts. Sources, denominators and limitations.

Multiple-source attestation (MAIN)
3

Ainu (Japan)
ain
Japanese
jpn
Central Okinawan
ryu

Single-source attestation (AUX)
1

Min Nan Chinese
nanSingle source