Wikipe-tan (ウィキペたん Wikipetan) is a

personification of Wikipedia created in January 2006

by the editor then known as Kasuga.[a] She is an unofficial

mascot of Wikipedia and is used in multiple wikiprojects.

The -tan in "Wikipe-tan" is a hypocoristicsuffix, in the

form of a Japanese honorific. Like the OS-tans, she is a

product of moe anthropomorphism.

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Wikipe-tan is the mascot character for WikiProject Anime and manga and WikiProject Holidays' Christmas task force; she was also the mascot for Admin coaching, the Counter-Vandalism Unit, and a contender for the Wikipedia mascot. In addition, Wikimedia Hong Kong uses Wikipe-tan images and cosplay during functions and promotions. Wikipe-tan has occasionally been treated as a mascot for Wikipedia or its community in news reports.

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The puzzle pieces worn by the character are from an earlier version of the Wikipedia puzzle-ball logo. ワィ is apparently a misspelling of ウィ ("wi"), the first syllable of the Japanese katakana transliteration of "Wikipedia", while 祖 is a kanji character apparently changed from the puzzle-ball's 袓, the latter being a Chinese character not used in Japanese. The most up-to-date picture by Kasuga shows her wearing the characters 維 (being the first character of Wikipedia's Chinese name) and the correct Japanese katakana ウィ from the current Wikipedia logo.