no / の
The last of the N row — a single flowing stroke 'no' that is the most-used particle in Japanese.
Pronunciation
The character の represents the syllable 'no', a soft 'n' followed by 'o'. Part of the な-row. The particle の (the possessive 'of') is one of the most common words in Japanese — you'll see it constantly.
の closes the N row and is one of the most-used hiragana you'll ever write. As a particle, の links two nouns to express possession or attribution — 私の本 ("my book"), 日本の食べ物 ("Japanese food"). It also appears in 飲む (to drink), 残す (to leave behind), and dozens of compound nouns. One single curling stroke; almost a circle.
How to write の
Trace の 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 single flowing stroke shaped like a counter-clockwise spiral. Start at the upper right, sweep down and to the left, curl around the lower middle, then loop back up and around to the right with a small flick at the upper center. The character should look like a number 9 written in reverse — one smooth motion, no lifts.
Origin
Hiragana の evolved from the cursive form of the kanji 乃 (no) — meaning "of" or "and so." The kanji's two flowing strokes compressed into the single spiraling line we write today, preserving only the essential counter-clockwise sweep that gives の its distinctive shape.
Common words starting with の
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing の by hand — the top row shows the stroke order to trace, then fill the blank squares.
Lock it into memory
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