kana
n. uncountablen. the two sets of symbols used in the Japanese writing system to represent sounds. They are used alongside the more complex Chinese characters to make reading easier.
n. the two syllabaries used in the Japanese writing system, consisting of hiragana and katakana. Each symbol represents a single syllable and is used to write grammatical particles and loanwords respectively.
She is learning how to write kana before studying Chinese characters.
While reading a Japanese novel, you will often see kana used to help readers pronounce the more difficult Chinese characters.
Borrowed from Japanese 仮名(かな) (kana, “phonetic character”, literally “borrowed character”, from the way that kana were originally Chinese characters "borrowed" for their phonetic values).