Katakana Letter Re

Katakana Letter Re at U+30EC represents the syllable “re” in Japanese katakana, a script mainly used for foreign words, names, emphasis, and technical terms. It belongs to the Katakana block and is the katakana counterpart of the hiragana れ. In Japanese writing, it appears in loanwords such as レストラン for “restaurant,” レモン for “lemon,” and トイレ for “toilet.” It is also common in transliterated foreign names, where レ approximates a re sound, as in レイ for “Ray” or “Rei.” Beyond ordinary spelling, katakana レ is widely seen in menus, product names, signage, manga dialogue, and advertising, where katakana can give text a modern, foreign, technical, or emphatic feel. In educational materials it is taught as one of the basic gojūon katakana syllables and is paired with hiragana れ for reading practice. Its shape can be mistaken by learners for similar angled katakana or handwritten marks, but in Japanese text its pronunciation and role are fixed by the katakana syllabary.