hya / ひゃ
The first HY combined kana — ひ plus a small ゃ becomes 'hya', a single syllable. Anchors the number 100 and every multiple-of-100 word in the language.
Pronunciation
The compound character ひゃ represents the syllable 'hya', formed by combining ひ (hi) with a small ゃ. It is pronounced as a single syllable 'hya'. Common in number words — ひゃく (hyaku) means 'one hundred'.
ひゃ is ひ (hi) plus a small ゃ (ya). Together they make a single syllable /hya/ — the palatalized version of /h/, similar to the start of English "human". It's almost entirely dedicated to one word: 百 (hyaku, "one hundred") and its multiples — 二百 (nihyaku, 200), 五百 (gohyaku, 500), 九百 (kyuuhyaku, 900). For 300, 600, and 800 the consonant phonetically shifts (三百 sanbyaku, 六百 roppyaku, 八百 happyaku), but the underlying yōon shape stays the same. It also appears in 百貨店 (hyakkaten, "department store") and 百科事典 (hyakkajiten, "encyclopedia").
How to write ひゃ
Trace ひゃ 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 ひ exactly: a single flowing stroke shaped like a wide downturned curve. Start at the upper left, sweep down to the middle, curve gracefully out to the upper right with a small flick.
Write a small ゃ next to ひ, tucked into the lower right. Stroke 2 is a short slanted dash; stroke 3 is the looping body; stroke 4 is the tiny upper-right accent. Keep ゃ at roughly half the height of ひ.
Origin
ひゃ is the written combination of ひ (from 比, hi) and a small や (from 也, ya). The palatalized /hya/ sound is rare in native Japanese vocabulary outside of 百, but that one word makes ひゃ indispensable — you'll write it every time you count past 99.
Common words starting with ひゃ
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing ひゃ by hand — the top row shows the stroke order to trace, then fill the blank squares.
Lock it into memory
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