chi / チ
The second T-row katakana — read “chi,” not “ti.” Two bars and a descending stroke, straight from the kanji 千.
Pronunciation
The character チ represents the syllable 'chi', identical in pronunciation to hiragana ち. Common in loanwords for cheese, ticket, team, lunch, and many others. The 'ch' is always 'ch' as in 'cheese' — never 'k'.
チ matches hiragana ち, and it's read “chi,” never “ti.” It fronts loanwords like チーズ (cheese), チケット (ticket), チーム (team), and ends words like ランチ (lunch). Its shape is lifted from the kanji 千 (thousand).
How to write チ
Trace チ 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 stroke near the top, angling up slightly from left to right.
A longer horizontal stroke across the middle, left to right.
A long stroke descending from the top through the middle bar, curving to the lower left — like the kanji 千.
Origin
Katakana チ comes from the kanji 千 (chi / sen, “thousand”). Its two bars and descending stroke are essentially 千 itself, lightly simplified.
Common words starting with チ
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing チ 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.