byo / ビョ
The last BY combined kana — ビ plus a small ョ becomes “byo,” one syllable. Rare in loanwords; everyday in kanji words like 秒 (byō, second).
Pronunciation
The compound character ビョ represents the syllable 'byo'. Rare in modern katakana — most 'byo' sounds appear in native words written in kanji.
ビョ is ビ (bi) plus a small ョ, read as one syllable, “byo.” In katakana loanwords it's rare (e.g. ビョウ, a rivet), but the sound is everyday in Japanese words usually written in kanji: 秒 (byō, “second”), 病院 (byōin, “hospital”). The combining rule is unchanged.
How to write ビョ
Trace ビョ on the canvas at the top of the page. Animated arrows show each stroke's direction; trace along them and the stroke fills in. Each numbered step below explains what that stroke does.
Write ビ: that's ヒ plus a dakuten — two small ticks at the upper right.
Write a small ョ tucked into the lower right at about half height — a miniature ヨ (a top-and-right stroke, a middle bar, then a bottom bar).
Origin
Katakana ビョ combines ビ — ヒ (from the kanji 比) plus a dakuten — with a small ョ (reduced ヨ, from 與). Together they spell a single “byo” sound.
Common words starting with ビョ
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing ビョ by hand — the top row shows the stroke order to trace, then fill the blank squares.
Lock it into memory
Reading is only half of it. Write the katakana you’ve learned from memory in the trainer — the ones you struggle with come back sooner, until they stick.