真仮名

真(ま) (ma-, “true”) + 仮名(かな) (kana, “kana”). The kana changes to gana as an instance of rendaku (連(れん)濁(だく)).

It is called "true", as opposed to hiragana and katakana which no longer retain the original shape of the Han characters (kanji) they derive from, even though it is still "provisional" as a type of 仮名 (kana, literally “provisional name”) because it is used phonetically. See also 真名 (mana, “non-phonetic kanji”, literally “true name”) and 真片仮名 (shinkatakana, “non-phonetic kanji and katakana”).

• (Tokyo) まがな [máꜜgànà] (Atamadaka – [1])
• (Tokyo) まがな [màgáná] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [ma̠ɡa̠na̠]

真(ま)仮(が)名(な) • (magana) 

1. (historical) a syllabary with characters drawn from kanji, such as the 万葉仮名 (Man'yōgana), that is the precursor to hiragana and katakana

• 当(あ)て字(じ) (ateji)