Are ゑ and ゐ hardly still being used?

10 comments

1. The pronunciations were removed because い and え exist. Since the pronunciation is the same, there is no reason for it duplicate characters.

2. They were rendered obsolete by a spelling reform carried out shortly after the end of WWII with the aim of bringing the written language more closely in line with the spoken language. All uses of these kana were replaced with え and い respectively. For example, the old spelling of 末 (read “sue”) was すゑ which was changed to すえ to match its actual pronounciation.

   You may still see them occasionally used for stylistic purposes. If you read pre-WWII writing and literature, there’s a good chance you’ll come across both being used along with a lot of other spelling oddities (e.g. けふ being read “kyou”)

3. Man the only time I see ゑ ever used is from watching that Live orchestra of Scaramouche’s boss theme

4. Just a note that nothing stops one from using them or the traditional kanji, the only restriction is that with those working with government documents etc.

5. Comedy duo よゐこ uses it probably for comic/absurdity purposes. Do you know the kachou?

6. How do you read these?

7. あらゐけいいち is the manga author of 日常 (Nichijou). His name is written with “ゐ”, but apparently can also be wriiten with “い” instead.

   That’s one instance I noticed by chance when I searched for the author of this manga. Anyway, even if these characters are not used anymore, I think it’s nice to know how to read them.

   Edit: @AdagioExtra1332 mentioned it above already. 日常 is really something else.

8. I’ve only ever seen ゐ in あらゐ けいいち, he’s the mangaka of Nichijou.

9. >Are ゑ and ゐ hardly still being used?

   ヱes.

10. Never used. Im fluent in Japanese and this is one of the few times Ive seen it