Meanings
- JapanesemediaKana printed next to or above a kanji or other character to indicate the pronunciation.
Furigana are indispensable for some names of people and places whose Kanji are not included among the official Kanji list, and whose sounds can be unusual and even idiosyncratic.
2014, Insup Taylor, M. Martin Taylor, Writing and Literacy in Chinese, Korean and Japanese, revised edition, John Benjamins, →ISBN, page 290Synonyms: ruby character, rubi character
Synonyms & antonyms
nounKana printed next to or above a kanji or other character to indicate the pronunciation.
Origin
- Japanese振り仮名“annotating kana”
- Englishfurigana
Borrowed from Japanese 振り仮名 (furigana, “annotating kana”, literally “assigned provisional character”).
More words from Japanese
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic فُورِيغَانَا, فُورِيغَانَا
- فُورِيغَانَا (furigānā)furigana
- فُورِيغَانَا (furiḡānā)furigana
Chinese Mandarin 振假名
- 振假名 (zhènjiǎmíng)furigana
Japanese 振り仮名, ルビ
- 振り仮名 (furigana)furigana
- ルビ (rubi)furigana
Korean 후리가나
- 후리가나 (hurigana)furigana
Russian фурига́на, ру́би
- фурига́на (furigána)furigana
- ру́би (rúbi)furigana
Thai ฟุริงะนะ
- ฟุริงะนะ (fúríngáná)furigana
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
furigana. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/furigana
“furigana.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/furigana. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “furigana,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/furigana.
Source: furigana on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.