ち, in hiragana

Hiragana

is a Japanese syllabary, one basic component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and the Latin alphabet . Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems, in which each character represents one mora...

, or チ in katakana

Katakana

is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet . The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji. Each kana represents one mora...

, is one of the Japanese kana

Kana

Kana are the syllabic Japanese scripts, as opposed to the logographic Chinese characters known in Japan as kanji and the Roman alphabet known as rōmaji...

, which each represent one mora

Mora (linguistics)

Mora is a unit in phonology that determines syllable weight, which in some languages determines stress or timing. As with many technical linguistic terms, the definition of a mora varies. Perhaps the most succinct working definition was provided by the American linguist James D...

. Both are phonemically /ti/ although for phonological reasons

Japanese phonology

This article deals with the phonology of the Japanese language.-Consonants:The Japanese vowels are pronounced as monophthongs, unlike in English; except for , they are similar to their Spanish or Italian counterparts....

, the actual pronunciation is t͡ɕi.

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.

The dakuten

Dakuten

, colloquially ten-ten , is a diacritic sign most often used in the Japanese kana syllabaries to indicate that the consonant of a syllable should be pronounced voiced. Handakuten , colloquially maru , is a diacritic used with the kana for syllables starting with h to indicate that they should...

 forms ぢ, ヂ, pronounced the same as the dakuten forms of the shi kana

Shi (kana)

し, in hiragana, or シ in katakana, and the variant form ㋛, is one of the Japanese kana, which each represent one mora. Both represent the phoneme although for phonological reasons, the actual pronunciation is . The shapes of these kana have origins in the character 之...

 in most dialects (see yotsugana

Yotsugana

refers to the four kanaジ, ヂ, ズ, ヅ of the Japanese language. Traditionally four distinct phonemes, currently they are either one, two, three, or four distinct phonemes depending on dialect...

), are uncommon. They are primarily used for indicating a voiced consonant in the middle of a compound word (see rendaku

Rendaku

is a phenomenon in Japanese morphophonology that governs the voicing of the initial consonant of the non-initial portion of a compound or prefixed word...

), 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

Radio

Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

 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 , is interchangeable with セ゚.

Form variants

Form	Rōmaji	Hiragana Hiragana is a Japanese syllabary, one basic component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and the Latin alphabet . Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems, in which each character represents one mora...	Katakana Katakana is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet . The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji. Each kana represents one mora...
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 Yoon is a feature of the Japanese language in which a mora is formed with an added sound.Yōon are represented in hiragana using a kana ending in i, such as き , plus a smaller-than-usual version of one of the three y kana, ya, yu or yo. For example kyō, "today", is written きょう, using a small version of...  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 Dakuten , colloquially ten-ten , is a diacritic sign most often used in the Japanese kana syllabaries to indicate that the consonant of a syllable should be pronounced voiced. Handakuten , colloquially maru , is a diacritic used with the kana for syllables starting with h to indicate that they should...  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

EWLINE Form A (ch-) Romaji Hiragana Hiragana is a Japanese syllabary, one basic component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and the Latin alphabet . Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems, in which each character represents one mora... Katakana Katakana is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet . The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji. Each kana represents one mora... (cha) (ちゃ) (チャ) (chi) (ち) (チ) (chu) (ちゅ) (チュ) che ちぇ チェ (cho) (ちょ) (チョ)

EWLINE Form B (dy/j-) Romaji Hiragana Hiragana is a Japanese syllabary, one basic component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and the Latin alphabet . Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems, in which each character represents one mora... Katakana Katakana is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet . The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji. Each kana represents one mora... (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

See also

• Shi (kana)
  Shi (kana)
  し, in hiragana, or シ in katakana, and the variant form ㋛, is one of the Japanese kana, which each represent one mora. Both represent the phoneme although for phonological reasons, the actual pronunciation is . The shapes of these kana have origins in the character 之...
  
  
• Hepburn romanization
  Hepburn romanization
  The is named after James Curtis Hepburn, who used it to transcribe the sounds of the Japanese language into the Latin alphabet in the third edition of his Japanese–English dictionary, published in 1887. The system was originally proposed by the in 1885...
  
  
• Kunrei-shiki romanization