We'd like to use analytics cookies to understand which symbols people look up, so we know what to research next. They are not used for advertising and we set none of them unless you say yes. What we store.
Small kana beside a character.
Also known as: Ruby text, Reading gloss
The Japanese convention printing a reading in small kana alongside a Chinese character.
Gives the pronunciation of a Chinese character in Japanese kana.
Contexts: Language and transcription
Solves a problem specific to a script where a character's reading is not recoverable from its shape: the same character has several readings and only context or a gloss decides between them.
Contexts: Language and transcription
Gave its name to the ruby annotation of web typography, which generalised the Japanese convention into a layout feature for any script.
Contexts: Language and transcription
Small kana letters set above the character in horizontal text or to its right in vertical text, at roughly half the size of the base line.
Furigana is half-size and an annotation above the character; okurigana is full-size and part of the word.