Furigana
/ˌfʊr.iˈɡɑː.nə/noun
Small kana characters printed beside or above Japanese kanji to show their pronunciation.
Did you know?Furigana became especially important in Japan’s modern publishing culture because it made difficult kanji accessible to children, language learners, and readers encountering unfamiliar names.
Etymological Timeline
Heian Period, 9th–12th centuries
Japanese
振り仮名 (furigana)
“A Japanese compound referring to kana characters added or placed alongside written text.”
Medieval Japanese
Japanese
振る (furu)
“To shake, wave, or apply/attach; in compounds, 振り (furi) can indicate something placed or added.”
8th–10th centuries
Japanese
仮名 (kana)
““Borrowed names,” the Japanese syllabic scripts developed from Chinese characters used phonetically.”
19th century
Japanese
ふりがな / 振り仮名
“The term became established for pronunciation guides printed beside kanji in books and educational texts.”
20th century
English
furigana
“An English loanword for Japanese phonetic annotations, especially those written above or beside kanji.”