く

See also: ぐ, く゚, 〱, ㄑ, ㇛, and 𡿨

く U+304F, く HIRAGANA LETTER KU ← ぎ [U+304E] Hiragana ぐ → [U+3050]

Japanese

Stroke order

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [kɯ̟]

Etymology 1

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

Syllable

く • (ku) 

1. The hiragana syllable く (ku). Its equivalent in katakana is ク (ku). It is the eighth syllable in the gojūon order; its position is か行う段 (ka-gyō u-dan, “row ka, section u”).

Usage notes

Do not confuse it with the kana iteration mark 〱 which is sometimes used in vertical text.

Derived terms

• ぐ (gu)

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, ゆゅ, よょ, ら, り, る, れ, ろ, わゎ, ゐ, ゑ, を, ん, ー, ゝ, ゞ, ゟ

Etymology 2

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

【九】1 [numeral] nine [numeral] ninth [noun] nine [noun] the ninth Alternative spelling 玖

【口】1 [noun] (Buddhism) the mouth [noun] (Buddhism) (by extension) one's speech, one's words [noun] the mouthpiece of a flute [counter] used to count people [counter] used to count per-person portions [counter] used to count open-mouthed containers [counter] used to count bladed weapons or tools

【区】3 [noun] ward, section, district

【苦】3 [noun] suffering [noun] (Buddhism) dukkha

【句】5 [noun] a short section from a longer text: [noun] a phrase or clause [noun] a sentence or line [noun] a passage or paragraph [noun] a verse from a song [noun] a stanza from a poem [counter] counter for stanzas from a poem or for haiku

【矩】J [affix] carpenter's square [affix] square (shape) [affix] rule; law [noun] (astronomy) quadrature

【躯】H [affix] body [counter] counter for Buddhist images

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

(The following entries do not have a page created for them yet: 工, 久, 供, 駆, 駒, 狗, 懼.)

Etymology 3

Some obsolete inflections.

Verb

く • (ku) 

1. 消: disappear
2. 来: come

Etymology 4

Alternative spelling
所 (obsolete)

/-u aku//-ru aku//-ki aku/ → /(-a)ku//-raku//-keku/

Originally a compound of the 連体形(れんたいけい) (rentaikei) of verbs and adjectives and 所(あく) (aku); 上代特殊仮名遣 (jōdai tokushu kanazukai) contractions of vowel clusters caused it to be reanalyzed as the suffixes:

• く (ku) following
  • 未然形(みぜんけい) (mizenkei) of 四段活用(よだんかつよう) (yodan katsuyō) and ラ行変格活用(ぎょうへんかくかつよう) (ra-gyō henkaku katsuyō) verbs
• らく (raku) following
  • 終止形(しゅうしけい) (shūshikei) of 二段活用(にだんかつよう) (nidan katsuyō), サ行変格活用(ぎょうへんかくかつよう) (sa-gyō henkaku katsuyō), カ行変格活用(ぎょうへんかくかつよう) (ka-gyō henkaku katsuyō), and ナ行変格活用(ぎょうへんかくかつよう) (na-gyō henkaku katsuyō) verbs
  • 未然形(みぜんけい) (mizenkei) or 連用形(れんようけい) (ren'yōkei) of 一段活用(いちだんかつよう) (ichidan katsuyō) verbs
• けく (keku) following the stem of adjectives.

The use of this nominalizer is called ク語法(ごほう) (ku-gohō).

Alternative forms

• らく (raku)
• けく (keku)

Suffix

く • (-ku) 

1. (obsolete) A nominalizing suffix in Old Japanese.

Usage notes

Inflection rules for the く form

Word	dictionary form	-ku form
yodan verbs
書く	かく (kaku)	かかく (kakaku)
泳ぐ	およぐ (oyogu)	およがく (oyogaku)
話す	はなす (hanasu)	はなさく (hanasaku)
待つ	まつ (matsu)	またく (mataku)
呼ぶ	よぶ (yobu)	よばく (yobaku)
読む	よむ (yomu)	よまく (yomaku)
作る	つくる (tsukuru)	つくらく (tsukuraku)
買ふ	かふ (kafu)	かはらく (kaharaku)
kami nidan verbs
起く	おく (oku)	おくらく (okuraku)
過ぐ	すぐ (sugu)	すぐらく (suguraku)
落つ	おつ (otsu)	おつらく (otsuraku)
恥づ	はづ (hazu)	はづらく (hazuraku)
強ふ	しふ (shifu)	しふらく (shifuraku)
伸ぶ	のぶ (nobu)	のぶらく (noburaku)
浴む	あむ (amu)	あむらく (amuraku)
老ゆ	おゆ (oyu)	おゆらく (oyuraku)
懲る	こる (koru)	こるらく (koruraku)
shimo nidan verbs
得	う (u)	うらく (uraku)
受く	うく (uku)	うくらく (ukuraku)
上ぐ	あぐ (agu)	あぐらく (aguraku)
寄す	よす (yosu)	よすらく (yosuraku)
交ず	まず (mazu)	まずらく (mazuraku)
捨つ	すつ (sutsu)	すつらく (sutsuraku)
出づ	いづ (izu)	いづらく (izuraku)
尋ぬ	たづぬ (tazunu)	たづぬらく (tazunuraku)
与ふ	あたふ (atafu)	あたふらく (atafuraku)
調ぶ	しらぶ (shirabu)	しらぶらく (shiraburaku)
止む	とむ (tomu)	とむらく (tomuraku)
越ゆ	こゆ (koyu)	こゆらく (koyuraku)
晴る	はる (haru)	はるらく (haruraku)
植う	うう (ū)	ううらく (ūraku)
kami ichidan verbs (type 2a)
着る	きる (kiru)	きらく (kiraku)
似る	にる (niru)	にらく (niraku)
干る	ひる (hiru)	ひらく (hiraku)
見る	みる (miru)	みらく (miraku)
射る	いる (iru)	いらく (iraku)
居る	ゐる (iru)	ゐらく (iraku)
shimo ichidan verbs (type 2b)
蹴る	ける (keru)	けらく (keraku)
蹴ゑる	くゑる (kueru)	くゑらく (kueraku)
irregular verbs (type 3)
為	す (su)	すらく (suraku)
来	く (ku)	くらく (kuraku)
有り	あり (ari)	あらく (araku)
死ぬ	しぬ (shinu)	しぬらく (shinuraku)
adjectives
清し	きよし (kiyoshi)	きよけく (kiyokeku)
悲し	かなし (kanashi)	かなしけく (kanashikeku)
体たり	ていたり (teitari)	ていたらく (teitaraku)
静かなり	しづかなり (shizukanari)	しづかならく (shizukanaraku)

Derived terms

• 曰(いわ)く (iwaku)
• 曰(のたまわ)く (notamawaku)
• 願(ねが)わくは (negawaku wa)
• 思惑(おもわく) (omowaku)
• 恐(おそ)らく (osoraku)
• 体(てい)たらく (teitaraku), 為体(ていたらく) (teitaraku)
• 以為(おもえ)らく (omoeraku)
• まく (-maku)
• なく (-naku)
• 須(すべか)らく (subekaraku)
• 聞(き)くならく (kikunaraku)