What is 「々」 and how does it affect meaning and pronunciation?


I've seen this symbol in various places, such as 「日々」, 「色々」, and 「人々」. What is
it, and how does it affect the meaning and pronunciation of the word?




It's a repetition kanji or "[ideographic iteration
mark](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wiktionary/en/wiki/%E3%80%85)", it means
that the kanji just before should be repeated. The pronunciation changes
according to the kanji being repeated, but a lot of the time, the second kanji
will be pronounced like the first one, but with a dakuten (hi->bi, to->do,
ha->ba). It often makes a word mean "more than one of that thing". Here's some
examples:

  * 日々(ひび）: days, or every day
  * 人々(ひとびと): people
  * 色々(いろいろ): various
  * 散々(さんざん): severe
  * 昔々(むかしむかし): a long, long time ago
  * 時々(ときどき): occasionally
  * 早々(はやばや): very early

According to
[Wikipedia](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/%E3%80%85#Japanese),
it's called an odoriji (踊り字 ) "dancing mark" in Japanese. I've heard the name
that Robusto mentions ("kurikaeshi") more often.




It's a repetition kanji or "[ideographic iteration
mark](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wiktionary/en/wiki/%E3%80%85)", it means
that the kanji just before should be repeated. The pronunciation changes
according to the kanji being repeated, but a lot of the time, the second kanji
will be pronounced like the first one, but with a dakuten (hi->bi, to->do,
ha->ba). It often makes a word mean "more than one of that thing". Here's some
examples:

  * 日々(ひび）: days, or every day
  * 人々(ひとびと): people
  * 色々(いろいろ): various
  * 散々(さんざん): severe
  * 昔々(むかしむかし): a long, long time ago
  * 時々(ときどき): occasionally
  * 早々(はやばや): very early

According to
[Wikipedia](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/%E3%80%85#Japanese),
it's called an odoriji (踊り字 ) "dancing mark" in Japanese. I've heard the name
that Robusto mentions ("kurikaeshi") more often.

