は

See also: ほ, ば, ぱ, and Appendix:Variations of "ha"

は U+306F, は HIRAGANA LETTER HA ← の [U+306E] Hiragana ば → [U+3070]

Japanese

Stroke order

Etymology 1

Derived in the Heian period from writing the man'yōgana kanji 波 in the cursive sōsho style.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ha̠]

Syllable

は • (ha) 

1. The hiragana syllable は (ha). Its equivalent in katakana is ハ (ha). It is the twenty-sixth syllable in the gojūon order; its position is は行あ段 (ha-gyō a-dan, “row ha, section a”).

Derived terms

• ば (ba)
• ぱ (pa)

See also

• (Hiragana) 平仮名; あぁ, いぃ, うぅゔ, えぇ, おぉ, かゕが, きぎ, くぐ, けゖげ, こご, さざ, しじ, すず, せぜ, そぞ, ただ, ちぢ, つっづ, てで, とど, な, に, ぬ, ね, の, はばぱ, ひびぴ, ふぶぷ, へべぺ, ほぼぽ, ま, み, む, め, も, やゃ, ゆゅ, よょ, ら, り, る, れ, ろ, わゎ, ゐ, ゑ, を, ん, ー, ゝ, ゞ, ゟ

Etymology 2

/pa/ → /ɸa/ → /wa/

From Old Japanese. Used in the oldest Japanese writings, including the Man'yōshū finished some time after 759 CE. Ultimately from Proto-Japonic *pa.

The particle was excluded from the post-war script reform, rather than changed to わ (wa), which would be more phonetically accurate.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [β̞a̠]

Particle

は • (wa) 

1. marks the topic of the clause, sentence, or conversation

   Antonym: も

   これは犬(いぬ)です。

   Kore wa inu desu.

   This is a dog.

   (literally, “As for this, [it] is [a] dog.”)

   今日(きょう)は雨(あめ)が降(ふ)っています。

   Kyō wa ame ga futteimasu.

   It is raining today.

   (literally, “On the topic of today, rain is falling.”)

   1. (by extension) what about, how about, and (used without a predicate to ask for more information about something)

      中(なか)田(だ)は？

      Nakada wa?

      Where's Nakada?

      (literally, “What about Nakada?”)

      じゃ、意(い)味(み　)は？

      Ja, imi wa?

      So, what's the meaning?

      (literally, “Well, how about the meaning?”)

2. Inserted between two verbs for emphasis.

   そう思(おも)ってはいないでしょうか。

   Sō omotte wa inai deshō ka.

   Do you not think so?

   勝(か)てるとは思(おも)ってはいない

   kateru to wa omotte wa inai

   does not think that one can win

   現(あらわ)れては消(き)えた

   arawarete wa kieta

   disappeared as soon as it appeared

   • 1975, “眠れぬ夜”, 小田和正 (lyrics), performed by オフコース:

     愛(あい)のない毎(まい)日(にち)は　自(じ)由(ゆう)な毎(まい)日(にち)
     誰(だれ)も僕(ぼく)を責(せ)めたり　できはしないさ

     ai no nai mainichi wa jiyū na mainichi
     dare mo boku o semetari deki wa shinai sa

     Days without love are days of freedom
     No one can pester me anymore

Usage notes

• Note that English has no direct counterpart. For illustrative purposes, it may be translated as "as for", "speaking of", or a similar phrase. For example, "As for this, it is a dog". This often does not produce very natural English, however.
• When inserted between two verbs for emphasis, は is usually used with negatives and after a て (te) form. This has given rise to ではない (de wa nai), the now standard negative form of だ (da).
• も (mo) vs は (ha): see も (mo).
• は always replaces を (o) and が (ga), but may follow other particles.

Derived terms

• ば (ba, the conditional conjugation ending)
• では (de wa, “then, well then, in that case”)

See also

• とは (to wa, used to ask for definitions)
• が (ga, the subject marker)
• 은 (-eun, the Korean equivalent)

Further reading

• は as a Japanese topic marker on Wikipedia

Etymology 3

Interjection

は • (ha) 

1. (dated, humble) Used to show agreement or obedience: yes

   は、さようでございます。

   Ha, sayō de gozaimasu.

   Yes, exactly.

   は、承(しょう)知(ち)いたしました。

   Ha, shōchi itashimashita.

   Yes, as you wish.

Etymology 4

For pronunciation and definitions of は – see the following entries.

【羽】2 [noun] a feather (including synthetic feathers, as on a modern shuttlecock) [noun] a wing (as of a bird, bat, insect, or airplane) [noun] a fletching on an arrow [noun] (archery) when a bow is strung, the distance between the grip and the serving (nocking point) on the bowstring [noun] the thin, flange-like overhanging part of a tea ceremony kettle [noun] Short for 羽振り (haburi): authority [noun] a 家紋 (kamon, “family crest”) with various designs of bird feathers [counter] counter for birds [counter] counter for leporids Alternative spellings ば, ぱ, わ

【葉】3 [noun] leaf, needle, blade (of a plant)

【歯】3 [noun] tooth [noun] (typography) a unit equal to 1 Q (kyū) and 0.25 mm, abbreviated as H; ha is used for spacing, while Q is used for font size Alternative spellings H, 牙

【刃】S [noun] any sharp and thin cutting implement: a blade, edge

(This term, は (ha), is the hiragana spelling of the above terms.) For a list of all kanji read as は, see Category:Japanese kanji read as は.)

(The following entries do not have a page created for them yet: 端, 翳.)

Etymology 5

For pronunciation and definitions of は – see the following entries.

【派】6 [suffix] group, faction, (political) wing, school

(This term, は (ha), is the hiragana spelling of the above term.) For a list of all kanji read as は, see Category:Japanese kanji read as は.)

(The following entries do not have a page created for them yet: 破, 覇.)