# イ — katakana “i”

イ is the katakana character for the sound “i”. It is written with 2 strokes, and in hiragana the same sound is い.

- Reading: i
- Strokes: 2
- Hiragana: い

## How イ sounds

Like the ee in “see”, but shorter.

## Words with イ

| Word | Reading | Meaning |
| --- | --- | --- |
| イギリス | igirisu | United Kingdom |
| イタリア | itaria | Italy |
| インド | indo | India |
| インク | inku | ink |
| イングランド | ingurando | England |
| インフレ | infure | inflation |

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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/katakana-chart/i/. Last updated 2026-11-01.