hyo / ヒョ
The last HY combined kana — ヒ plus a small ョ becomes “hyo,” one syllable. Rare; seen in ヒョウ (leopard).
Pronunciation
The compound character ヒョ represents the syllable 'hyo'. Rare in modern katakana — most 'hyo' sounds appear in native words written in hiragana or kanji.
ヒョ is ヒ (hi) plus a small ョ, read as one syllable, “hyo.” It's rare in loanwords; the clearest example is ヒョウ (leopard), and it shows up in native words and folk names like ヒョットコ. The combining rule is unchanged.
How to write ヒョ
Trace ヒョ 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.
Write a small ョ tucked into the lower right at about half height — a miniature ヨ (a top-and-right stroke, a middle bar, then a bottom bar).
Origin
Katakana ヒョ combines ヒ — from the kanji 比 (hi) — with a small ョ (reduced ヨ, from 與). Together they spell a single “hyo” sound.
Common words starting with ヒョ
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing ヒョ by hand — the top row shows the stroke order to trace, then fill the blank squares.
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