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): [kɯ̟ᵝ]

Etymology 1

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

Syllable

く (romaji 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”).

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 [number] nine [number] 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, is an alternative spelling of the above Sino-Japanese terms. For a list of all kanji read as く, not just those used in Japanese terms, see Category:Japanese kanji read as く.)

(The following entries are uncreated: 工, 久, 供, 駆, 駒, 狗, 懼.)

Etymology 3

Some obsolete inflections.

Verb

く • (ku) 

1. 消: disappear
2. 来: come
3. 繰: repeat

Etymology 4

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Suffix

く • (-ku) 

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

Derived terms

• 曰(いわ)く (iwaku)
• 願(ねが)わくは (negawaku wa)
• 思惑(おもわく) (omowaku)
• 恐(おそ)らく (osoraku)