ke / け
The fourth of the K row — a balanced 'ke' that pairs with vowels to build many of the most common Japanese words.
Pronunciation
The character け represents the syllable 'ke', a hard 'k' followed by 'e' as in 'pet'. Part of the か-row.
け anchors the け-row and shows up in everyday verbs (受ける to receive, 出かける to go out), in everyday nouns (毛 hair, 池 pond), and in the polite verb endings -けど ("but") that beginners use all the time. The shape is closely related to は, ほ, and ま — once you can write け, those follow naturally.
How to write け
Trace け 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 line on the left. Draw top to bottom — straight or with a faint inward curve.
A short horizontal stroke that crosses the first stroke near the top, extending to the right.
A flowing vertical stroke on the right that drops from the top, crosses the horizontal, and ends with a small curve to the lower left. This is what gives け its forward, anchored shape.
Origin
Hiragana け evolved from the cursive form of the kanji 計 (kei) — meaning "to measure" or "to plan." The kanji's left radical (言) flowed into the simple three-stroke shape of け, keeping the vertical-horizontal-vertical balance of the original.
Common words starting with け
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing け by hand — the top row shows the stroke order to trace, then fill the blank squares.
Lock it into memory
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