Chi (kana)

ち, in hiragana, or チ in katakana, is one of the Japanese kana, which each represent one mora. Both are phonemically , reflected in the Nihon-shiki and Kunrei-shiki romanization ti, although, for phonological reasons, the actual pronunciation is , which is reflected in the Hepburn romanization chi.

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 forms ぢ, ヂ, are uncommon. They are primarily used for indicating a voiced consonant in the middle of a compound word (see rendaku), and they don't usually begin a word. 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. It is, however, more common to use ディ instead, such as ディオン to translate the name Dion.

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

Form	Rōmaji	Hiragana	Katakana
Normal ch-/t- (た行 ta-gyō)	chi	ち	チ
	chii, chyi chī	ちい, ちぃ ちー	チイ, チィ チー
Addition yōon ch-/ty- (ちゃ行 cha-gyō)	cha	ちゃ	チャ
	chaa chā	ちゃあ, ちゃぁ ちゃー	チャア, チャァ チャー
	chu	ちゅ	チュ
	chuu, chwu chū	ちゅう, ちゅぅ ちゅー	チュウ, チュゥ チュー
	cho	ちょ	チョ
	chou choo chō	ちょう, ちょぅ ちょお, ちょぉ ちょー	チョウ, チョゥ チョオ, チョォ チョー
Addition dakuten d-/j- (だ行 da-gyō)	ji	ぢ	ヂ
	jii, jyi jī	ぢい, ぢぃ ぢー	ヂイ, ヂィ ヂー
Addition yōon and dakuten dy-/j- (ぢゃ行 dya-gyō)	ja	ぢゃ	ヂャ
	jaa jā	ぢゃあ, ぢゃぁ ぢゃー	ヂャア, ヂャァ ヂャー
	ju	ぢゅ	ヂュ
	juu, jwu jū	ぢゅう, ぢゅぅ ぢゅー	ヂュウ, ヂュゥ ヂュー
	jo	ぢょ	ヂョ
	jou joo jō	ぢょう, ぢょぅ ぢょお, ぢょぉ ぢょー	ヂョウ, ヂョゥ ヂョオ, ヂョォ ヂョー

Other additional forms
Form A (ch-/chw-) Romaji Hiragana Katakana (cha) (ちゃ) (チャ) (chyi) (ちぃ) (チィ) (chu) (ちゅ) (チュ) che chei chee chē ちぇ ちぇい, ちぇぃ ちぇえ ちぇー チェ チェイ, チェィ チェエ チェー (cho) (ちょ) (チョ) chwa ちゅぁ, ちゎ チュァ, チヮ chwi ちゅぃ チュィ (chwu) (ちゅぅ) (チュゥ) chwe ちゅぇ チュェ chwo ちゅぉ チュォ	Form B (dy-/j-/jw-) Romaji Hiragana Katakana (dya, ja) (ぢゃ) (ヂャ) (dyi, jyi) (ぢぃ) (ヂィ) (dyu, ju) (ぢゅ) (ヂュ) dye, je dyei, jei dyee, jee dyē, jē ぢぇ ぢぇい, ぢぇぃ ぢぇえ ぢぇー ヂェ ヂェイ, ヂェィ ヂェエ ヂェー (dyo, jo) (ぢょ) (ヂョ) jwa ぢゅぁ, ぢゎ ヂュァ, ヂヮ jwi ぢゅぃ ヂュィ (jwu) (ぢゅぅ) (ヂュゥ) jwe ぢゅぇ ヂュェ jwo ぢゅぉ ヂュォ

Stroke order

Stroke order in writing ち Stroke order in writing ち

Stroke order in writing チ Stroke order in writing チ

File:ち-bw.png

Stroke order in writing ち

File:チ-bw.png

Stroke order in writing チ

Other communicative representations

• Full Braille representation

ち / チ in Japanese Braille				Ch/J/Dy + Yōon braille
ち / チ chi	ぢ / ヂ ji/di	ちい / チー chī	ぢい / ヂー jī/dī	ちゃ / チャ cha	ぢゃ / ヂャ ja/dya	ちゃあ / チャー chā	ぢゃあ / ヂャー jā/dya
Template:Braille cell	Template:Braille cell	Template:Braille cell	Template:Braille cell	Template:Braille cell	Template:Braille cell	Template:Braille cell	Template:Braille cell
Ch/J/Dy + Yōon braille
ちゅ / チュ chu	ぢゅ / ヂュ ju/dyu	ちゅう / チュー chū	ぢゅう / ヂュー jū/dyū	ちょ / チョ cho	ぢょ / ヂョ jo/dyo	ちょう / チョー chō	ぢょう / ヂョー jō/dyō
Template:Braille cell	Template:Braille cell	Template:Braille cell	Template:Braille cell	Template:Braille cell	Template:Braille cell	Template:Braille cell	Template:Braille cell

• Computer encodings

See also

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