[heer-uh-gah-nuh; Japn. hee-rah-gah-nah] 
| the cursive and more widely used of the two Japanese syllabaries. |
| hi·ra·ga·na (hîr'ə-gä'nə) n. The cursive and flowing variety of kana used in most modern Japanese texts, especially to represent inflectional endings and particles. [Japanese : hira, ordinary, plain + kana, kana; see kana.] |
hiragana Japanese
The cursive formed Japanese kana syllabary. Hiragana is mostly used for grammatical particles, verb-inflection, and Japanese words which are not written in kanji or which are too difficult for an educated person to read or write in kanji. Hiragana are also used for furigana.
(2001-03-18)
əˈgɑ