Halfwidth Katakana Small U

Yes. It is the halfwidth form of ゥ, with the same small-u role. Japanese uses small katakana in spellings for contracted sounds and foreign loanword sounds. For example, トゥ and ドゥ use a small u mark; ｩ fills that same place when the text uses halfwidth kana.

Halfwidth describes a legacy text format, not a different pronunciation. The sound comes from the surrounding kana, while the choice between ｩ and ゥ reflects the width form used by the text.

Why does halfwidth kana exist?

It comes from older limits on how Japanese text fit into computer systems. The 1969 JIS C 6220 standard included a limited katakana set that could fit in single-byte systems, where each character used one byte of data. It preceded JIS X 0201, which carried these halfwidth forms.

Shift JIS kept the legacy kana as single-byte data while using two-byte codes for a wider range of Japanese writing. Unicode retains both width forms to support conversion with older systems. Halfwidth katakana is therefore a compatibility form, not a separate set of sounds.

How do I type ｩ?

On Windows, the Japanese IME can convert selected input to halfwidth katakana. As of 2026-09-14, Microsoft’s Japanese IME documentation lists F8 for that conversion. Type the reading, convert it to katakana, then press F8 and choose the small-u form when the spelling calls for ゥ.