sho / ショ
The last SH combined kana — シ plus a small ョ becomes “sho.” Opens shopping and show; ends fashion and mansion.
Pronunciation
The compound character ショ represents the syllable 'sho', formed by combining シ (shi) with a small ョ. Extremely common in loanwords — shopping, show, fashion, shock, shortcut, mansion (apartment).
ショ is シ (shi) plus a small ョ, read as one syllable, “sho.” It opens loanwords like ショッピング (shopping), ショー (show), ショット (shot), and ends a great many “-tion” words: ファッション (fashion), マンション (apartment), セッション (session).
How to write ショ
Trace ショ 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 シ exactly: two short marks down the left side, then a long stroke sweeping up from the lower left to the upper right.
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 ショ combines シ — from the kanji 之 (shi) — with a small ョ (reduced ヨ, from 與). Together they spell a single “sho” sound.
Common words starting with ショ
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing ショ 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.