ri / り
The second of the R row — two parallel strokes 'ri' that open words for science, squirrels, birds, and the polite negative ending.
Pronunciation
The character り represents the syllable 'ri', a soft Japanese 'r' followed by 'i'. Part of the ら-row. The Japanese 'r' here is a single tap of the tongue — closer to a soft 'd' or 'l' sound than the English 'r'.
り sits second in the R row and packs into many beginner words — 鳥 (bird), 力 (power, as ちから ends in り compound forms), 理科 (science). It also appears in the polite verb endings 〜ました/〜ません that mark past and negative present tenses (食べました, "ate"). Two short parallel strokes — one of the simpler hiragana to write.
How to write り
Trace り 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 short curving stroke on the left — drops from the upper left down with a faint inward curve, ending with a small flick at the lower right.
A longer parallel stroke on the right — drops from the upper right down with the same gentle curve, slightly taller than stroke 1. The two strokes lean slightly toward each other and never touch.
Origin
Hiragana り traces back to the cursive form of the kanji 利 (ri) — meaning "profit" or "benefit." The kanji's left radical (禾, grain) compressed into the small left stroke; its right radical (刂, blade) preserved as the longer right stroke that defines り today.
Common words starting with り
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing り by hand — the top row shows the stroke order to trace, then fill the blank squares.
Lock it into memory
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