pyo / ぴょ
The last PY combined kana — and the final kana in the entire chart. ぴ plus a small ょ becomes 'pyo'. Anchors the iconic hopping onomatopoeia ぴょんぴょん.
Pronunciation
The compound character ぴょ represents the syllable 'pyo', formed by combining ぴ (pi) with a small ょ.
ぴょ is ぴ (pi) plus a small ょ (yo). Together they make a single syllable /pyo/. This is the final kana in the entire standard hiragana chart. Its most famous use is in the universal hopping onomatopoeia ぴょんぴょん (pyon-pyon, "hopping / bouncing") — heard in children's stories, anime, and everyday speech for anything from a rabbit jumping to someone hopping with excitement. Related: ぴょこぴょこ (pyokopyoko, "bobbing up and down"), ぴょこんと (pyokonto, "with a sudden bow / nod"), and ぴょん (pyon, a single hop). With ぴょ mastered, you've reached the end of the standard hiragana chart — every base kana, every dakuten variant, every handakuten variant, every yōon.
How to write ぴょ
Trace ぴょ 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 ぴ exactly: two strokes.
Write a small ょ next to ぴ. Stroke 3 is a short horizontal at the upper middle (of the small character); stroke 4 is the looping body. Keep ょ at roughly half the height of ぴ. With this stroke, you've completed every kana in the hiragana chart.
Origin
ぴょ is the written combination of ぴ (ひ + handakuten ゜) and a small よ (from 与, yo). It's the very last entry in the modern hiragana chart — closing out a writing system that took over a thousand years to evolve, from the cursive shorthand of 9th-century court ladies to the codified yōon of the Meiji period. With ぴょ, the chart is complete.
Common words starting with ぴょ
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing ぴょ 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.