う

See also: ゔ and ラ

Japanese

Stroke order

Etymology 1

Derived in the Heian period from writing the man'yōgana kanji 宇 in the cursive sōsho style.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɯ̟]

• Audio:

  (file)

Syllable

う (romaji u)

1. The hiragana syllable う (u). Its equivalent in katakana is ウ (u). It is the third syllable in the gojūon order; its position is あ行う段 (a-gyō u-dan, “row a, section u”).

See also

• (Hiragana) 平仮名; あぁ, いぃ, うぅゔ, えぇ, おぉ, かゕが, きぎ, くぐ, けゖげ, こ𛄲 (𛄲)ご, さざ, しじ, すず, せぜ, そぞ, ただ, ちぢ, つっづ, てで, とど, な, に, ぬ, ね, の, はばぱ, ひびぴ, ふぶぷ, へべぺ, ほぼぽ, ま, み, む, め, も, やゃ, 𛀆, ゆゅ, 𛀁, よょ, らら゚, りり゚, るる゚, れれ゚, ろろ゚, わゎわ゙, ゐ𛅐 (𛅐)ゐ゙, 𛄟 (𛄟), ゑ𛅑 (𛅑)ゑ゙, を𛅒 (𛅒)を゙, ん, ー, ゝ, ゞ, ゟ

Etymology 2

/mu/ → /ũ/ → /u/ → (fused with the /a/ ending in the preceding verb stem) /ɔː/ → /oː/

From Old Japanese む (mu). See the entry at よう for more information.

Suffix

う • (-u)  (in Modern Japanese, no longer pronounced -u but fused with the preceding vowel to make -ō or -yō)

1. (jodōshi) Used to make the volitional form of verbs.
   1. Expressing one's will to do something.

      そろそろ帰(かえ)ろう。

      Sorosoro kaerō.

      I'll return before long.

      手(て)伝(つだ)おうか。

      Tetsudaō ka.

      Shall I help?

      • 誕(たん)生(じょう)日(び)ケーキを作(つく)ろうと思(おも)っています。

        Tanjōbi-kēki o tsukurō to omotte imasu.

        I'm thinking about baking a birthday cake.

      • 誕(たん)生(じょう)日(び)ケーキを作(つく)ろうとしています。

        Tanjōbi-kēki o tsukurō to shite imasu.

        I'm trying to bake a birthday cake.

   2. Inducing or stimulating other person to do something.

      明日(あした)一(いっ)緒(しょ)に学(がっ)校(こう)に行(い)こう。

      Ashita issho ni gakkō ni ikō.

      Let's go to school together tomorrow.

   3. (archaic) Presenting a supposition.

      Synonyms: だろう (darō), でしょう (deshō)

      そんなことはなかろう。

      Sonna koto wa nakarō.

      There's probably no such thing.

Usage notes

Attaches only to the 未然形 (mizenkei, “irrealis or incomplete form”) of Group I (godan) verbs, with the sound change au → ō.

• 書(か)く (kaku) → 書(か)か (kaka) + う (u) → 書(か)こう (kakō)
• 呼(よ)ぶ (yobu) → 呼(よ)ば (yoba) + う (u) → 呼(よ)ぼう (yobō)
• 言(い)う (iu) → 言(い)わ (iwa) + う (u) → 言(い)おう (iō)

The volitional form of Group II (ichidan) and Group III (irregular) verbs are formed with よう (-yō) instead of う (-u).

In traditional Japanese grammar, this is a 助動詞 (jodōshi, “auxiliary verb”), with the sole form う (u) as the 終止形 (shūshikei, “terminal form”) and the 連体形 (rentaikei, “adnominal form”).

See also

• よう (-yō)
• ん (-n)
• む (-mu)

Japanese basic inflections

			Verbs	-i adjectives	nouns and -na adjectives
Nonpast	Plain	Affirmative	Use the dictionary form	stem + い (-i)	noun + だ (da) (noun + である (de aru))
		Negative	mizenkei + ない (-nai)	stem + くない (-ku nai)	noun + で（は）ない (de [wa] nai)
	Polite	Affirmative	ren'yōkei + ます (-masu)	stem + いです (-i desu)	noun + です (desu)
		Negative	ren'yōkei + ません (-masen)	stem + くないです (-ku nai desu) stem + くありません (-ku arimasen)	noun + で（は）ないです (de [wa] nai desu) noun + で（は）ありません (de [wa] arimasen)
Past	Plain	Affirmative	ren'yōkei (with onbin sound changes for Group I verbs) + た (-ta)	stem + かった (-katta)	noun + だった (datta) (noun + であった (de atta))
		Negative	mizenkei + なかった (-nakatta)	stem + くなかった (-ku nakatta)	noun + で（は）なかった (de [wa] nakatta)
	Polite	Affirmative	ren'yōkei + ました (-mashita)	stem + かったです (-katta desu)	noun + でした (deshita)
		Negative	ren'yōkei + ませんでした (-masen deshita)	stem + くなかったです (-ku nakatta desu) stem + くありませんでした (-ku arimasen deshita)	noun + で（は）なかったです (de [wa] nakatta desu) noun + で（は）ありませんでした (de [wa] arimasen deshita)
Volitional	Plain		mizenkei (of Group I verbs) + う (-u > -o) mizenkei (of other verbs) + よう (-yō)	†stem + かろう (-karō) (stem + いだろう (-i darō))	noun + だろう (darō) (noun + であろう (de arō))
	Polite		ren'yōkei + ましょう (-mashō)	(stem + いでしょう (-i deshō))	noun + でしょう (deshō)
Conjunctive			ren'yōkei (with onbin sound changes for Group I verbs) + て (-te)	stem + くて (-kute)	noun + で (de) (noun + であって (de atte))
Hypothetical conditional			kateikei + ば (-ba)	stem + ければ (-kereba)	(noun + であれば (de areba))

Etymology 3

For pronunciation and definitions of う – see the following entries.

【右】1 [prefix] right (direction) [prefix] (politics) right-wing [prefix] (baseball) right fielder [prefix] (history, government) "of the right", junior or subordinate to 左 (sa-, “of the left”)

【雨】1 [affix] rain [affix] (figuratively) something falling like rain [affix] (figuratively) favor, blessing

【羽】2 [noun] (music) the fifth and highest note in the Chinese pentatonic scale [affix] wing (of a bird or insect) [affix] (historical) Short for 出羽国 (Dewa-no-kuni): Dewa Province

【有】3 [affix] exist [noun] (Buddhism) bhava (becoming, existence)​

【宇】6 [counter] Counter for buildings, roofs, etc. [affix] eaves; roof; house; building [affix] the whole world; universe (Can we add an example for this sense?)

【烏】J [affix] crow; raven [affix] black; dark [affix] (figuratively) sun [affix] A Chinese interrogative for rhetorical questions.

【迂】J [affix] roundabout; detour [affix] ignorant

【紆】H [affix] roundabout

(This term, う (u), is the hiragana spelling of the above terms.) For a list of all kanji read as う, see Category:Japanese kanji read as う.)

Etymology 4

Noun

う • (u) 

1. 鵜: cormorant