ho / ほ
The last of the H row — four strokes 'ho' that close the row with a small accent mark on top, distinguishing it from は.
Pronunciation
The character ほ represents the syllable 'ho', a soft 'h' followed by 'o'. Part of the は-row. Take care: ほ closely resembles は but has an extra horizontal stroke at the top — that's the visual difference.
ほ closes the H row and packs into many everyday nouns — 星 (star), 骨 (bone), 本 (book), 方向 (direction). The shape is the cousin of は: same left vertical, same central horizontal, same looping body on the right — but with a small accent dash added at the top right. That single extra mark is what visually distinguishes ほ from は. Four strokes; balanced and slightly busy.
How to write ほ
Trace ほ 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.
A short vertical stroke on the left — sets the left edge, same as は.
A short horizontal stroke at the upper middle — crosses the top of the area to the right of the first vertical, same as は.
A long flowing stroke that begins at the top right, drops down through the area, and loops around to the lower right in a closed circle. Same body shape as は.
A small detached accent mark on the upper right — a short slanted stroke or dot just above the body. This single tiny mark is what distinguishes ほ from は.
Origin
Hiragana ほ comes from the cursive form of the kanji 保 (ho) — meaning "to protect" or "to maintain." The kanji's left person radical (亻) and right side flowed together into the layered strokes of ほ; the small upper-right accent preserves what's left of its top component.
Common words starting with ほ
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing ほ by hand — the top row shows the stroke order to trace, then fill the blank squares.
Lock it into memory
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