Thekatakanasyllableエ(e).Its equivalent inhiraganaisえ(e).It is the fourth syllable in thegojūonorder; its position isアHànhエĐoạn(a-gyō e-dan,“rowa,sectione”).
Thekatakanasyllabary is used primarily fortranscriptionof foreign language words into Japanese and the writing ofgairaigo(loan words), as well as to representonomatopoeias,technical and scientific terms, and the names of plants, animals, and minerals. It is also occasionally used in some words for emphasis, or to ease reading; katakana may be preferred for words becoming buried in the text if they are written under their canonical form inhiragana.Names of Japanese companies, as well as certain Japanese language words such as colloquial terms, are also sometimes written in katakana rather than the other systems. Formerly, female given names were often written in katakana.[edit]
Historically represented theyesyllable, when𛀀(e)was used in its place for what is currently represented byエ.In katakana representations of Old and Early Classical Japanese (wheneandyewere phonemically distinct, prior to their merger in the mid-Heian period),yeis instead represented by𛄡(ye),aMeiji periodinvention, to avoid confusion with the modern use ofエto represente.
