mya / みゃ
The first MY combined kana — み plus a small ゃ becomes 'mya'. Rare in native Japanese — appears mostly in 〜脈 (-myaku, 'vein/pulse') compounds and proper nouns like ミャンマー.
Pronunciation
The compound character みゃ represents the syllable 'mya', formed by combining み (mi) with a small ゃ. It is pronounced as a single syllable 'mya'.
みゃ is み (mi) plus a small ゃ (ya). Together they make a single syllable /mya/ — the palatalized version of /m/ + /a/. It's one of the rarest yōon in everyday Japanese. The main native compounds use it in 〜脈 (-myaku, "vein / pulse / pathway"): 脈 (myaku, "pulse"), 人脈 (jinmyaku, "personal connections / network"), 山脈 (sanmyaku, "mountain range"), 動脈 (doumyaku, "artery"). It also appears in the country name ミャンマー (myanmaa, "Myanmar"), but written almost always in katakana.
How to write みゃ
Trace みゃ 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 み exactly: stroke 1 a curving stroke that begins at the upper middle, dips down and to the right, then loops back to the upper left and crosses through itself; stroke 2 a small flick on the lower right that finishes the character.
Write a small ゃ next to み, tucked into the lower right. Stroke 3 is a short slanted dash; stroke 4 is the looping body; stroke 5 is the tiny upper-right accent. Keep ゃ at roughly half the height of み.
Origin
みゃ is the written combination of み (from 美, mi) and a small や (from 也, ya). The palatalized /mya/ sound is rare in native Japanese — it survives mostly in Sino-Japanese compounds where 脈 "vein" provides the consonant.
Common words starting with みゃ
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing みゃ by hand — the top row shows the stroke order to trace, then fill the blank squares.
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