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U (kana)
Encyclopedia
う in hiragana
or ウ in katakana
(romanised
u) is one of the Japanese kana
, each of which represents one mora
. In the modern Japanese system of alphabetical order, they occupy the third place in the modern Gojūon
(五十音) system of collating
kana. In the Iroha
, they occupied the 24th position, between む and ゐ. In the Gojūon chart (ordered by columns, from right to left), う lies in the first column (あ行, "column A") and the third row (う段, "row U"). Both represent the sound [u͍]. In the Ainu language, the small katakana ゥ represents a diphthong, and is written as w in the Latin alphabet.
The hiragana form with dakuten, ゔ, representing the sound "v", is rarely seen on older words, since the sound doesn't occur in native Japanese words. However, it is becoming more common with Western influences.
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).
, such as トゥ (tu). This convention is relatively new, and many older loanword
s do not use it. For example, in the phrase Tutankhamun
's cartouche
, the recent loan cartouche uses the new phonetic technique, but the older loan Tutankhamun uses ツ
(tsu) as an approximation:
Tsutankāmen no karutūshu
Hiragana
is a Japanese syllabary, one basic component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and the Latin alphabet . Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems, in which each character represents one mora...
or ウ in katakana
Katakana
is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet . The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji. Each kana represents one mora...
(romanised
Hepburn romanization
The is named after James Curtis Hepburn, who used it to transcribe the sounds of the Japanese language into the Latin alphabet in the third edition of his Japanese–English dictionary, published in 1887. The system was originally proposed by the in 1885...
u) is one of the Japanese kana
Kana
Kana are the syllabic Japanese scripts, as opposed to the logographic Chinese characters known in Japan as kanji and the Roman alphabet known as rōmaji...
, each of which represents one mora
Mora (linguistics)
Mora is a unit in phonology that determines syllable weight, which in some languages determines stress or timing. As with many technical linguistic terms, the definition of a mora varies. Perhaps the most succinct working definition was provided by the American linguist James D...
. In the modern Japanese system of alphabetical order, they occupy the third place in the modern Gojūon
Gojuon
The is a Japanese ordering of kana.It is named for the 5×10 grid in which the characters are displayed, but the grid is not completely filled, and, further, there is an extra character added outside the grid at the end: with 5 gaps and 1 extra character, the current number of distinct kana in a...
(五十音) system of collating
Collation
Collation is the assembly of written information into a standard order. One common type of collation is called alphabetization, though collation is not limited to ordering letters of the alphabet...
kana. In the Iroha
Iroha
The is a Japanese poem, probably written in the Heian era . Originally the poem was attributed to the founder of the Shingon Esoteric sect of Buddhism in Japan, Kūkai, but more modern research has found the date of composition to be later in the Heian Period. The first record of its existence...
, they occupied the 24th position, between む and ゐ. In the Gojūon chart (ordered by columns, from right to left), う lies in the first column (あ行, "column A") and the third row (う段, "row U"). Both represent the sound [u͍]. In the Ainu language, the small katakana ゥ represents a diphthong, and is written as w in the Latin alphabet.
| Form | Rōmaji | Hiragana Hiragana is a Japanese syllabary, one basic component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and the Latin alphabet . Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems, in which each character represents one mora... |
Katakana Katakana is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet . The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji. Each kana represents one mora... |
|---|---|---|---|
| Normal a/i/u/e/o (あ行 a-gyō) |
u | う | ウ |
| uu ū |
うう, うぅ うー |
ウウ, ウゥ ウー |
| Other additional forms | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
EWLINE
|
EWLINE
|
The hiragana form with dakuten, ゔ, representing the sound "v", is rarely seen on older words, since the sound doesn't occur in native Japanese words. However, it is becoming more common with Western influences.
Derivation
Both う and ウ originate, via man'yōgana, from the kanjiKanji
Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
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Space
Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum...
).
Variant forms
Scaled-down versions of the characters (ぅ, ゥ) are used to create new morae that do not exist in the Japanese languageJapanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
, such as トゥ (tu). This convention is relatively new, and many older loanword
Loanword
A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
s do not use it. For example, in the phrase Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun , Egyptian , ; approx. 1341 BC – 1323 BC) was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty , during the period of Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom...
's cartouche
Cartouche
In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an ellipse with a horizontal line at one end, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name, coming into use during the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty under Pharaoh Sneferu, replacing the earlier serekh...
, the recent loan cartouche uses the new phonetic technique, but the older loan Tutankhamun uses ツ
Tsu (kana)
つ, in hiragana, or ツ in katakana, and the variant form ㋡, is one of the Japanese kana, each of which represents one mora. Both are phonemically although for phonological reasons, the actual pronunciation is...
(tsu) as an approximation:
Tsutankāmen no karutūshu
The character う is also used, in its full-sized form, to lengthen "o" sounds. For example, the word 構想 is written in hiragana as こうそう (kousou), pronounced kōsō. In a few words the character お
O (kana)
In Japanese writing, the kana お and オ occupy the fifth place, between え and か, in the modern Gojūon system of collating kana. In the Iroha, they occupy the 27th, between の and く. In the table at right , お lies in the first column and the fifth row...
(o) is used instead for morphological or historical reasons.
The character ウ can take dakuten
Dakuten
, colloquially ten-ten , is a diacritic sign most often used in the Japanese kana syllabaries to indicate that the consonant of a syllable should be pronounced voiced. Handakuten , colloquially maru , is a diacritic used with the kana for syllables starting with h to indicate that they should...
to form ヴ (vu), a sound foreign to the Japanese language
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
and traditionally approximated by ブ (bu).
Stroke order
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- At the top of the character, a short diagonal crook: proceeding diagonally downwards from the left, then reversing direction and ending at the lower left.
- A broad curving stroke: beginning at the left, rising slightly, then curving back and ending at the left.
- At the top of the character, a short vertical stroke, written from top to bottom.
- A similar stroke, but lower and positioned at the left.
- A broad angled stroke: beginning as a horizontal line written from left to right, then reversing direction and proceeding downwards from right to left as a curved diagonal. The horizontal line must touch both the other strokes. Apart from the short diagonal, the character is identical to フFu (kana)ふ, in hiragana, or フ in katakana, is one of the Japanese kana, each of which represents one mora. The hiragana is made in four strokes, while the katakana in one. It represents the phoneme , although for phonological reasons, the actual pronunciation is , which is why it is romanized fu in Hepburn...
.
Other communicative representations
- BrailleJapanese BrailleJapanese braille is a braille code for writing the Japanese language. It is based on the original braille system. In Japanese it is known as , literally "dot characters". Below is a basic chart of Japanese braille with the Japanese hiragana character followed by the standard roman character reading...
:
-
●●
－－
－－- Phonetic alphabetJapanese phonetic alphabetThe is a radiotelephony spelling alphabet, similar in purpose to the NATO phonetic alphabet, but designed to communicate Japanese kana rather than Latin letters...
: 「上野のウ」 ("u of UenoUenoUeno can refer to a number of places in Japan:*Ueno, Mie: a former city in Mie Prefecture, now part of the city of Iga*Ueno, Gunma: a village in Gunma Prefecture:*Ueno, Okinawa: a village in Okinawa Prefecture:...
") - Morse code: ・・－
- Phonetic alphabet