# れ — hiragana “re”

れ is the hiragana character for the sound “re”. It is written with 2 strokes, and in katakana the same sound is レ.

- Reading: re
- Strokes: 2
- Katakana: レ

## How れ sounds

The Japanese r is one light tap of the tongue, somewhere between r, l and d.

## Don't confuse it with

ね · わ

## Words with れ

| Word | Reading | Meaning |
| --- | --- | --- |
| れっしゃ | ressha | train |
| れきし | rekishi | history |
| れんしゅう | renshuu | practice |
| れんらく | renraku | contacting |
| かれ | kare | he |
| かれら | karera | they |

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From Moji Ninja (https://moji.ninja/), a free app for learning hiragana, katakana and the JLPT kanji from N5 to N1 with spaced repetition. Page: https://moji.ninja/hiragana-chart/re/. Last updated 2026-11-01.