Katakana Letter N

Katakana Letter N at U+30F3 represents the moraic nasal sound in Japanese katakana, a syllable-final or standalone nasal usually romanized as “n.” It is part of the Katakana block, the angular kana script used mainly for loanwords, names, emphasis, and technical terms. In everyday Japanese, it appears constantly inside katakana words borrowed from other languages, such as パン for “bread,” ペン for “pen,” and コンピューター for “computer.” Its pronunciation changes slightly with the following sound: before p, b, or m it may sound closer to “m,” while before k or g it can be velar, but it is still written with the same katakana character. It also occurs in foreign personal names and place names written in katakana, as in ジョン for “John” or ロンドン for “London.” Because it represents a full mora rather than just a final consonant letter, it counts as one timing unit in Japanese rhythm, poetry, song lyrics, and pronunciation teaching. A practical visual caution is that ン is easily confused by learners with the similar katakana ソ; the stroke direction and relative angle distinguish them in handwriting and type.