How to write る (ru) in hiragana
る (ru) has no voiced form. It grew out of the cursive form of the kanji 留 (“detain”). One flowing stroke draws it: it starts at the top left and runs down and left then rightwards, ending at the bottom. Words that start with it include 累積 (“accumulation”), 留守 (“absence”), 累計 (“cumulative total”) and 類似 (“resemblance”).
- Romaji
- ru
- Strokes
- 1
- From
- 留
- Katakana
- ル
Stroke by stroke
- 1
- top leftdown and left → rightwards
Where る comes from
- Hiragana
- 留, cursive of the whole kanji
- Katakana
- ル from 流
The two scripts took this sound from different kanji, 留 (“detain”) and 流 (“current”).
Look-alikes
Trace it
Follow the numbers. Tracing help
Words with る
1,223 common JMdict words with it; ten shown.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 累積 | るいせき ruiseki | accumulation; cumulative |
| 留守 | るす rusu | absence; being away from home |
| 累計 | るいけい ruikei | cumulative total; accumulated total |
| 類似 | るいじ ruiji | resemblance; similarity |
| 留守番 | るすばん rusuban | care-taking; house-sitting |
| 塁 | るい rui | base; bag |
| 累進 | るいしん ruishin | successive promotion; gradual progression |
| 瑠璃 | るり ruri | lapis lazuli; lapis lazuli (color) |
| 塁審 | るいしん ruishin | base umpire |
| 類推 | るいすい ruisui | analogy; analogical reasoning |
Practice sheet
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