pi / ぴ
The second of the P row — ひ with a small round circle (゜) becomes 'pi'. Anchors pianos, pencils, and the onomatopoeic 'sparkling' (ぴかぴか).
Pronunciation
The character ぴ represents the syllable 'pi', a hard 'p' followed by 'i'. It is ひ with the handakuten that hardens 'h' to 'p'.
ぴ is ひ (hi) plus the handakuten ゜. It anchors loanwords like ピアノ (piano), ピーマン (piiman, "green pepper"), ピザ (piza, "pizza"); onomatopoeia like ぴかぴか (pikapika, "sparkling / shiny"), ぴったり (pittari, "perfectly / exactly"); and after-ん compounds like 鉛筆 (enpitsu, "pencil"), 一匹 (ippiki, "one small animal"). One of the simplest P-row characters to write — ひ is a single stroke, plus the small circle.
How to write ぴ
Trace ぴ 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 ひ exactly: a single flowing stroke shaped like a wide downturned curve. Start at the upper left, sweep down to the middle, curve gracefully out to the upper right with a small flick. One smooth motion.
Add the handakuten (゜): a small open circle at the upper right. Stroke 2 is a single tiny circle. Don't confuse with び (which has two ticks ゛).
Origin
Hiragana ぴ shares its base shape with ひ, which evolved from the kanji 比 (hi, "to compare"). The handakuten ゜ produces the /p/ sound that the H row uniquely accommodates; the same ひ base also accepts ゛ to become び (bi).
Common words starting with ぴ
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing ぴ 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.