bi / ビ
The second B-row katakana — ヒ with a dakuten becomes “bi.” Opens beer, video, and beach.
Pronunciation
The character ビ represents the syllable 'bi'. It is ヒ with the dakuten that voices 'h' to 'b'. Common in loanwords — beer, video, television, beach, business, and many compounds.
ビ is ヒ (hi) plus the dakuten ゛. It opens loanwords like ビール (beer), ビデオ (video), ビーチ (beach), ビジネス (business), and ends テレビ (television). Same ヒ shape, voiced to “bi.”
How to write ビ
Trace ビ 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 ヒ exactly: a short stroke rising to the right, then a long stroke down the left and along the bottom — an L-like base.
Add the dakuten (゛): two small ticks at the upper right — strokes 3 and 4 — sitting above the body.
Origin
Katakana ビ shares its shape with ヒ, from the right side of the kanji 比 (“compare”). The dakuten ゛ voices “hi” into “bi.”
Common words starting with ビ
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing ビ 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 katakana you’ve learned with spaced-repetition flashcards — the fastest way to make them stick.