nyo / にょ
The last NY combined kana — に plus a small ょ becomes 'nyo', a single syllable. Rarest of the NY group — mostly in onomatopoeia and literary compounds.
Pronunciation
The compound character にょ represents the syllable 'nyo', formed by combining に (ni) with a small ょ. It is pronounced as a single syllable 'nyo'.
にょ is に (ni) plus a small ょ (yo). Together they make a single syllable /nyo/. It's the rarest of the NY combined kana in everyday vocabulary, but appears in vivid onomatopoeia — にょきにょき (nyoki-nyoki, "sprouting up one after another"), にょろにょろ (nyoro-nyoro, "wriggling / slithering") — and in literary or Buddhist terms like 女房 (nyoubou, archaic "wife") and 如来 (nyorai, a Buddhist term for an enlightened being).
How to write にょ
Trace にょ 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 に exactly: three strokes.
Write a small ょ next to に. Stroke 4 is a short horizontal at the upper middle (of the small character); stroke 5 is the looping body. Keep ょ at roughly half the height of に.
Origin
にょ is the written combination of に (from 仁, ni) and a small よ (from 与, yo). Like the other NY yōon, it spells a palatalized syllable that has long existed in Japanese speech, codified in writing during the Meiji period.
Common words starting with にょ
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing にょ by hand — the top row shows the stroke order to trace, then fill the blank squares.
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