# ン — katakana “n”

ン is the katakana character for the sound “n”. It is written with 2 strokes, and in hiragana the same sound is ん.

- Reading: n
- Strokes: 2
- Hiragana: ん

## How ン sounds

The only kana that is a consonant on its own, and Japanese words don’t start with it. It follows the next sound: before m, b or p it sounds like m, so さんぽ (sanpo, a walk) is said “sampo”.

## Don't confuse it with

ソ · シ

## Words with ン

| Word | Reading | Meaning |
| --- | --- | --- |
| コンビニ | konbini | convenience store |
| ロンドン | rondon | London |
| コンピュータ | konpyuuta | computer |
| ペン | pen | pen |
| コンサート | konsaato | concert |
| レストラン | resutoran | restaurant |

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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/n/. Last updated 2026-11-01.