Kanji (漢字): These are characters adopted from Chinese. They are logograms, which means that each character represents a word or a part of a word. Kanji characters are used to write most of the content words (nouns, verbs, and adjectives) in Japanese. There are over 2,000 commonly used kanji in modern Japanese.   Hiragana (ひらがな): This is a syllabary, which means each character represents a syllable sound. Hiragana is used to write grammatical words and word endings (inflections), as well as words for which there are no kanji. It is also used to write native Japanese words.   Katakana (カタカナ): Like Hiragana, Katakana is also a syllabary. It is used primarily to write foreign words, loanwords, onomatopoeia, and the names of plants, animals, and minerals. It is also often used to convey emphasis, similar to italics in English.