pe / ぺ
The fourth of the P row — へ with a small round circle (゜) becomes 'pe'. Just two strokes total — the easiest P to write. Anchors pens, pages, and the onomatopoeic 'starving' (ぺこぺこ).
Pronunciation
The character ぺ represents the syllable 'pe', a hard 'p' followed by 'e' as in 'pet'. It is へ with the handakuten that hardens 'h' to 'p'.
ぺ is へ (he) plus the handakuten ゜. It's the shortest P-row character to write — just two strokes total. ぺ anchors loanwords like ペン (pen), ページ (peeji, "page"), ペット (petto, "pet"); onomatopoeia like ぺこぺこ (pekopeko, "very hungry / stomach-rumbling"), ぺちゃくちゃ (pechakucha, "chattering"); and after-ん words like 文房具 (bunbougu) family compounds. Word-initial ぺ is a sharp /pe/.
How to write ぺ
Trace ぺ 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 へ exactly: a single angular stroke shaped like a low chevron or shallow caret. Start at the lower left, sweep up to a peak in the upper middle, then sweep back down to the lower right. The angle is wide and flat.
Add the handakuten (゜): a small open circle at the upper right. Stroke 2 is a single tiny circle. Don't confuse with べ (which has two ticks ゛).
Origin
Hiragana ぺ shares its base shape with へ, which evolved from the kanji 部 (he, "section / department"). The handakuten ゜ produces the /p/ sound; the same へ base also accepts ゛ to become べ (be). At only two strokes, ぺ is the simplest character in the entire chart to write.
Common words starting with ぺ
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing ぺ by hand — the top row shows the stroke order to trace, then fill the blank squares.
Lock it into memory
Reading is only half of it. Drill the hiragana you’ve learned with spaced-repetition flashcards — the fastest way to make them stick.