cha / ちゃ
The first CH combined kana — ち plus a small ゃ becomes 'cha', a single syllable. Anchors tea, toys, brown, and the endearing suffix 〜ちゃん.
Pronunciation
The compound character ちゃ represents the syllable 'cha', formed by combining ち (chi) with a small ゃ. It is pronounced as a single syllable 'cha' (like the 'cha' in 'chai'). Common in everyday vocabulary — for example, おちゃ means 'tea'.
ちゃ is ち (chi) plus a small ゃ (ya). Together they make a single syllable /cha/ — sounding exactly like English "cha" in chai or cha-cha. Because ち already begins with "ch" (not "ti"), ちゃ is intuitive for English speakers. It anchors お茶 (ocha, "tea"), おもちゃ (omocha, "toy"), 茶碗 (chawan, "rice bowl / teacup"), 茶色 (chairo, "brown"), and the affectionate honorific 〜ちゃん (used for children, friends, pets — ねこちゃん "kitty", おかあちゃん "mom").
How to write ちゃ
Trace ちゃ 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 ち exactly: stroke 1 a short slanted horizontal near the top; stroke 2 a long flowing curving stroke that begins at the top right, crosses stroke 1, sweeps down through the middle, loops around at the bottom in a closed lower-right curl, and exits with a small flick.
Write a small ゃ next to ち, tucked into the lower right. Stroke 3 is a short slanted dash; stroke 4 is the looping body (small version of や); stroke 5 is the tiny upper-right accent. Keep ゃ at roughly half the height of ち.
Origin
ちゃ is the written combination of ち (from 知, chi) and a small や (from 也, ya). The palatalized /cha/ sound is identical to the sound at the start of English "chai" — which is itself borrowed from a Sino-Japanese tea-trade word.
Common words starting with ちゃ
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing ちゃ by hand — the top row shows the stroke order to trace, then fill the blank squares.
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