i / イ
The second katakana vowel — a short, bright “ee” in two quick strokes. The same sound as hiragana い, with katakana's clean angles.
Pronunciation
The character イ represents the vowel 'i', identical in pronunciation to hiragana い — like the 'ee' in 'feet' but shorter. Used in countless loanwords; also appears widely in proper nouns of foreign origin (country names, brands, etc.).
イ shares its sound with hiragana い — a tight, short “i.” It opens many country names and brands written in katakana: イタリア (Italy), インド (India), イメージ (image). Two strokes make it one of the fastest katakana to write.
How to write イ
Trace イ 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 diagonal stroke from the upper right, slanting down to the lower left.
A straight vertical stroke dropping from the centre to the bottom, crossing the first.
Origin
Katakana イ comes from the left side of the kanji 伊 (i) — the 亻 “person” radical. Those two slanting strokes are all that survived the monks' shorthand; the rest of 伊 was dropped, true to katakana's nature as “fragment kana.”
Common words starting with イ
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing イ 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.