ja / ジャ
The first J combined kana — ジ plus a small ャ becomes “ja,” one syllable. Opens jam, jazz, jacket, and Japan.
Pronunciation
The compound character ジャ represents the syllable 'ja'. It is シャ with the dakuten that voices 'sh' to 'j'. Extremely common in loanwords — jacket, jazz, jam, jungle, jump, Japan, journal, junk, pajamas.
ジャ is ジ (ji — シ with a dakuten) plus a small ャ, read as one syllable, “ja.” It opens loanwords like ジャム (jam), ジャズ (jazz), ジャケット (jacket), ジャンプ (jump), ジャパン (Japan).
How to write ジャ
Trace ジャ 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 ジ: that's シ (two marks down the left, then a long upward sweep) plus a dakuten — two small ticks at the upper right.
Write a small ャ tucked into the lower right at about half height — a miniature ヤ (a hooking stroke, then a vertical).
Origin
Katakana ジャ combines ジ — シ (from the kanji 之) plus a dakuten that voices it to “ji” — with a small ャ (reduced ヤ, from 也). Together they spell a single “ja” sound.
Common words starting with ジャ
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing ジャ by hand — the top row shows the stroke order to trace, then fill the blank squares.
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