furiganaEtymologyBorrowed from Japanese 振り仮名 (furigana, “annotating kana”, literally “assigned provisional character”).furigana means kana printed next to or above a kanji or other character to indicate the pronunciation. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.nounKana printed next to or above a kanji or other character to indicate the pronunciation.“Furigana are indispensable for some names of people and places whose Kanji are not included among the official Kanji list, and whose sounds can be unusual and even idiosyncratic.”