Standard Lemma guide

man'yōgana

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • Received-Pronunciation: măn'yōgăʹnă
  • rhymes with -ɑːnə

1

noun

Meaning 1

The early Japanese syllabary using Chinese characters to represent Japanese sounds: the predecessor of hiragana and katakana.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A man'yōgana character.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Japanese 万(まん)葉(よう)仮(が)名(な) (man'yōgana).

Across languages

Translations

6 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 萬葉假名 /万叶假名 (wànyè jiǎmíng) — predecessor of hiragana and katakana
  • Japanese: 万葉仮名 (man'yōgana) — predecessor of hiragana and katakana
  • Korean: 만요가나 (manyogana) — predecessor of hiragana and katakana
  • Polish: man'yōgana — predecessor of hiragana and katakana
  • Russian: манъёга́на (manʺjogána) — predecessor of hiragana and katakana
  • Polish: znak man'yōgany — a man'yōgana character