cho / ちょ
The last CH combined kana — ち plus a small ょ becomes 'cho', a single syllable. Anchors ちょっと — possibly the most-uttered word in spoken Japanese.
Pronunciation
The compound character ちょ represents the syllable 'cho', formed by combining ち (chi) with a small ょ. It is pronounced as a single syllable 'cho' (like the 'cho' in 'choke').
ちょ is ち (chi) plus a small ょ (yo). Together they make a single syllable /cho/. It's a conversational workhorse: ちょっと (chotto, "a little / a moment / hold on") is one of the most-uttered words in spoken Japanese, used as a hedge, an interjection, and a polite refusal (ちょっと…"well, you see…"). It also anchors 朝食 (choushoku, "breakfast"), 貯金 (chokin, "savings"), 直接 (chokusetsu, "direct"), ちょうど (choudo, "exactly / just right"), and 蝶 (chou, "butterfly").
How to write ちょ
Trace ちょ 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: two strokes.
Write a small ょ next to ち. Stroke 3 is a short horizontal at the upper middle (of the small character); stroke 4 is the looping body. Keep ょ at roughly half the height of ち.
Origin
ちょ is the written combination of ち (from 知, chi) and a small よ (from 与, yo). It encodes a single palatalized syllable; the small ょ size is the only visual cue separating ちょ ("cho", one syllable) from ちよ ("chi-yo", two syllables).
Common words starting with ちょ
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing ちょ by hand — the top row shows the stroke order to trace, then fill the blank squares.
Lock it into memory
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