re / レ
The fourth R-row katakana — “re” in a single stroke. Same sound as hiragana れ, but without れ's loop.
Pronunciation
The character レ represents the syllable 're', identical in pronunciation to hiragana れ. Extremely common in loanwords — restaurant, curry, lemon, report, record, lesson, and many proper nouns.
レ carries the same “re” as hiragana れ — and it's essentially れ stripped to one clean stroke, with no loop. It opens loanwords like レストラン (restaurant), レモン (lemon), レポート (report), レコード (record).
How to write レ
Trace レ 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 single stroke: drop from the upper left down to the lower middle, then sweep up to the right — a check-mark shape, like hiragana れ with its loop removed.
Origin
Katakana レ comes from the kanji 礼 (re / rei, “courtesy” or “ceremony”). A single fragment of it became the lone stroke of レ — one of the simplest katakana to write.
Common words starting with レ
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing レ 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.