HIRAGANA · DAKUTEN KANA
ji
ぢ · paired with ヂ
Sound and use
Modern standard pronunciation generally coincides with じ; ぢ remains in spellings such as 鼻血（はなぢ）.
See ヂ, the katakana counterpart →
Kana represent sounds and spelling functions. They do not have lexical meanings of their own.
How the shape formed
This is ち with a voicing mark (dakuten). Its base form is associated with the source character 知.
History and change
Japanese writers used Chinese characters for their sounds. The source character 知 belonged to that wider practice; the kanji meaning was not inherited by ぢ.
Hiragana and katakana developed as Japanese syllabaries in the early Heian period (794–1185). This is the script-level period, not a first attested date for ぢ.
Modern standard pronunciation generally coincides with じ; ぢ remains in spellings such as 鼻血（はなぢ）.
What is documented?
The sources above support the script’s broad period and the conventional parent-character account for ぢ. A first surviving appearance of this exact modern shape has not been established for this entry.
For a look at earlier hiragana variants, use the NINJAL hentaigana index ↗.