bya / びゃ
The first BY combined kana — び plus a small ゃ becomes 'bya'. Rare on its own — appears mostly in the phonetic shift of 百 (100) inside 三百 (sanbyaku, 300).
Pronunciation
The compound character びゃ represents the syllable 'bya', formed by combining び (bi) with a small ゃ. The dakuten on び voices the consonant from 'h' to 'b'.
びゃ is び (bi) plus a small ゃ (ya). Together they make a single syllable /bya/. It's the rarest of the BY trio in native vocabulary — its main role is the phonetic shift of 百 ("hundred") inside specific numeral compounds: 三百 (sanbyaku, 300), 四百 (yonhyaku — does NOT shift), 八百 (happyaku, 800 — uses ぴゃ instead), 六百 (roppyaku, 600 — uses ぴゃ). It also appears in literary vocabulary like 白夜 (byakuya, "white night") and the family name 白井 (Shirai, but compare 百々 read as biya/byaku).
How to write びゃ
Trace びゃ on the canvas at the top of the page. Animated arrows show each stroke's direction; trace along them and the stroke fills in. Each numbered step below explains what that stroke does.
Write び exactly: a single flowing stroke for ひ plus two ticks for the dakuten ゛ — three strokes total.
Write a small ゃ next to び, tucked into the lower right. Stroke 4 is a short slanted dash; stroke 5 is the looping body; stroke 6 is the tiny upper-right accent. Keep ゃ at roughly half the height of び.
Origin
びゃ is the written combination of び (ひ + dakuten ゛, from 比 hi) and a small や (from 也, ya). The /bya/ sound is rare in native Japanese — it survives mostly through phonetic shifts of 百 ("hundred") in specific compound numbers.
Common words starting with びゃ
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing びゃ by hand — the top row shows the stroke order to trace, then fill the blank squares.
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