れ

• IPA^(key): [ɾe̞]

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Derived in the Heian period from writing the man'yōgana kanji 禮 in the cursive sōsho style. Compare cognate shinjitai kanji 礼 (similar but less radical) and katakana レ.

れ (romaji re)

1. The hiragana syllable れ (re). Its equivalent in katakana is レ (re). It is the forty-second syllable in the gojūon order; its position is ら行え段 (ra-gyō e-dan, “row ra, section e”).

• (Hiragana) 平仮名; あぁ, いぃ, うぅゔ, えぇ, おぉ, かゕが, きぎ, くぐ, けゖげ, こご, さざ, しじ, すず, せぜ, そぞ, ただ, ちぢ, つっづ, てで, とど, な, に, ぬ, ね, の, はばぱ, ひびぴ, ふぶぷ, へべぺ, ほぼぽ, ま, み, む, め, も, やゃ, ゆゅ, よょ, ら, り, る, れ, ろ, わゎ, ゐ, ゑ, を, ん, ー, ゝ, ゞ, ゟ

From Old Japanese.

れ (rōmaji -re)

1. nominalizing suffix used to form pronouns, often from demonstratives: one, thing

• 我, 吾 (われ, ware; あれ are): "I thing", "I one" → I, me
• 汝 (なれ, nare): "you thing", "you one" → you
• 己 (おのれ, onore): "self (person) thing", "self (person) one" → oneself; myself; (derogatory) you
• 彼 (かれ, kare): "this (person) thing", "this (person) one" → he, him
• 此れ, 此, 是, 之, 惟, これ (kore): "this (non-human) thing", "this (non-human) one" → this
• 其れ, 其, それ (sore): "that (near) thing", "that (near) one" → that
• 彼, 彼れ, あれ (are): "that (distant) thing", "that (distant) one" → that, yonder
• 誰, 孰, だれ (dare), (archaic) たれ (tare): "which (person) thing", "which (person) one" → who
• 何, 何れ, どれ (dore): "which (non-human) thing", "which (non-human) one" → which
• 何れ, 孰れ, いずれ (izure): "which thing", "which one" → whichever, any, either, (in negative contexts) neither