di / ぢ
The second of the D row — ち with two tiny ticks (゛) becomes 'ji' (sounds identical to じ). Rare in modern Japanese — appears mainly in specific compounds like 鼻血 (nosebleed).
Pronunciation
The character ぢ represents the syllable pronounced 'ji' in modern Japanese (identical to じ). It is ち with the dakuten. Historically the syllable was distinct, but in modern usage じ is the default for 'ji'; ぢ appears mainly in compound words where ち becomes voiced (e.g., はなぢ — nosebleed).
ぢ is ち (chi) plus the dakuten ゛. Despite its T-row origin and the romaji di, it's pronounced identically to じ — both sound like English jee. Historically Japanese had two distinct sounds, but they merged centuries ago. In modern writing, ぢ appears only in specific compound words where the second element originally started with ち, especially 鼻血 (hanaji, "nosebleed") and a few names. For nearly every other ji, write じ. The romaji di is a transliteration convention used to distinguish ぢ from じ on the page — it does NOT reflect a different sound.
How to write ぢ
Trace ぢ 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.
Add the dakuten (゛): two small tick marks at the upper right. Strokes 3 and 4 are the two ticks.
Origin
Hiragana ぢ shares its base shape with ち, which evolved from the kanji 知 (chi, "to know"). Old Japanese distinguished /di/ from /ji/, but the sounds merged by the early modern period; ぢ survives in writing for historical compounds, but in speech it's identical to じ.
Common words starting with ぢ
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing ぢ by hand — the top row shows the stroke order to trace, then fill the blank squares.
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