What ﾒ means
It represents the same Japanese syllable, “me,” as メ.
The halfwidth kana set belongs to the JIS C 6220 standard lineage from 1969, later called JIS X 0201. Early Japanese computing and telecommunications had limited coding space, so a single-byte kana set helped fit text into available encodings and maintain compatibility. Later double-byte standards, including JIS X 0208 and Shift JIS, also supported fullwidth kana; ﾒ stayed useful for legacy data exchange.
The reading is the same; the encoded form differs. In fixed-pitch East Asian layout, a halfwidth character takes half an em, but the font and layout determine how narrow ﾒ looks on screen.
When should I use halfwidth katakana?
Use it when a field or older format specifically requires it.
For ordinary Japanese text, メ is the usual choice. Halfwidth is a formatting requirement, not a different pronunciation or a casual spelling. Follow the field’s instructions; some systems normalize halfwidth kana or reject them.
Technical and format-specific: ﾒ signals a width or compatibility requirement, not a different pronunciation.
Use メ for ordinary Japanese text; a format-sensitive field may normalize or reject ﾒ.
Part of the collection
Who writes ﾒ
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Don't confuse it with
1
Questions people ask
2Can halfwidth katakana change in email?
Yes. As of 2026, the web’s ISO-2022-JP encoding rules map halfwidth kana to fullwidth kana, so ﾒ can arrive as メ.
What does ﾒ mean in a bank abbreviation?
It can stand for 合名会社, a Japanese company type, in a bank-transfer recipient field. As of 2026, one Japanese bank’s published abbreviation table lists it that way; the field’s rules determine whether it is an abbreviation or the syllable “me.”
More like this
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How to type or find ﾒ
- Also called
- halfwidth kana · hankaku kana · hankaku katakana
- Search it as
- hankaku · narrow kana · Shift JIS · JIS X 0201 · JIS X 0208 · halfwidth me · メ · ﾒ
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
ﾒ\FF92me in Microsoft Japanese IME, then press F8 to convert the composition to halfwidth katakana.Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.