yo / よ
The last of the Y row — two strokes 'yo' that close the row with an emphasis-particle workhorse.
Pronunciation
The character よ represents the syllable 'yo', a soft 'y' followed by 'o'. Part of the や-row. The small version ょ is used to form yōon syllables.
よ closes the small Y row and is one of the most-used hiragana in conversational Japanese. As a regular kana, it shows up in 四 (four), 夜 (night), 読む (to read), 横 (sideways). As a sentence-final particle, よ adds emphasis or asserts new information (それは違うよ "that's wrong, you know!"). Its small version ょ attaches to other characters to produce きょ (kyo), しょ (sho), りょ (ryo) and more.
How to write よ
Trace よ 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 horizontal stroke at the upper middle — quick, left to right.
A long flowing stroke that begins at the top right, drops down through the area to the right of the centre, then loops around at the bottom in a closed circle on the lower left, exiting with a small flick. The loop is よ's defining feature — visually similar to ま but rotated and without the second horizontal.
Origin
Hiragana よ derives from the cursive form of the kanji 与 (yo) — meaning "to give" or "to bestow." The kanji's top horizontal and lower body compressed into the two strokes of よ, preserving the small upper accent and the looping right-side body.
Common words starting with よ
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing よ by hand — the top row shows the stroke order to trace, then fill the blank squares.
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