KATAKANA · MARKS
long vowel mark
ー · paired with ー
Sound and use
Lengthens the vowel of the preceding mora. It is a mark, rather than a syllable with its own sound.
See ー, the katakana counterpart →
Kana represent sounds and spelling functions. They do not have lexical meanings of their own.
How the shape formed
This is a writing mark rather than an independent syllable.
History and change
Japanese writers used Chinese characters for their sounds. The source characters belonged to that wider practice; the kanji meaning was not inherited by ー.
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 ー.
Lengthens the vowel of the preceding mora. It is a mark, rather than a syllable with its own sound.
What is documented?
The sources above support the script’s broad period and the modern writing function. 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 ↗.