# Ku (kana)

kana gojūon :
| wa | ra | ya | ma | ha | na | ta | sa | ka | a |
| wi | ri | (yi) | mi | hi | ni | chi | shi | ki | i |
| (wu) | ru | yu | mu | fu | nu | tsu | su | ku | u |
| we | re | (ye) | me | he | ne | te | se | ke | e |
| wo | ro | yo | mo | ho | no | to | so | ko | o |
| | | | n | | | | | | |
Kana modifiers and marks :
sokuonfu (gemination)
yōon (palatalization)
chōonpu (vowel lengthener)
Iteration marks
dakuten/handakuten (voiced & semi-voiced marks) :
Multi-moraic kana :
iu
kashiko
koto
sama
shite
toki
tomo
nari
mairasesoro
yori :
vte :
く, in hiragana or ク in katakana, is one of the Japanese kana, which each represent one mora. Both represent [kɯ] and their shapes come from the kanji 久.
This kana may have a dakuten added, transforming it into ぐ in hiragana, グ in katakana and gu in Hepburn romanization. The dakuten's addition also changes the sound of the mora represented, to [ɡɯ] in initial positions and varying between [ŋɯ] and [ɣɯ] in the middle of words.
A handakuten (゜) does not occur with ku in normal Japanese text, but it may be used by linguists to indicate a nasal pronunciation [ŋɯ].
In the Ainu language, the katakana ク can be written as small ㇰ, representing a final k sound as in アイヌイタㇰ Ainu itak (Ainu language). This was developed along with other extended katakana to represent sounds in Ainu that are not found in standard Japanese katakana.
| Forms | Rōmaji | Hiragana | Katakana |
| Normal k- (か行 ka-gyō) | ku | く | ク |
| Normal k- (か行 ka-gyō) | kuu, kwu kū | くう, くぅ くー | クウ, クゥ クー |
| Addition dakuten g- (が行 ga-gyō) | gu | ぐ | グ |
| Addition dakuten g- (が行 ga-gyō) | guu, gwu gū | ぐう, ぐぅ ぐー | グウ, グゥ グー |
Other additional forms :
Form A (kw-) :
| Romaji | Hiragana | Katakana |
| kwa | くぁ, くゎ | クァ, クヮ |
| kwi | くぃ | クィ |
| (kwu) | (くぅ) | (クゥ) |
| kwe | くぇ | クェ |
| kwo | くぉ | クォ |
Form B (gw-) :
| Romaji | Hiragana | Katakana |
| gwa | ぐぁ, ぐゎ | グァ, グヮ |
| gwi | ぐぃ | グィ |
| (gwu) | (ぐぅ) | (グゥ) |
| gwe | ぐぇ | グェ |
| gwo | ぐぉ | グォ |

## Stroke order

| Stroke order in writing く | Stroke order in writing ク |

## Other communicative representations

| Japanese radiotelephony alphabet | Wabun code |
| クラブのク Kurabu no "Ku" | ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ |
| Japanese Navy Signal Flag | Japanese semaphore | Japanese manual syllabary (fingerspelling) | Braille dots-146 Japanese Braille |
* Full Braille representation
く / ク in Japanese Braille :
| く / ク ku | ぐ / グ gu | くう / クー kū | ぐう / グー gū | Other kana based on Braille く | Other kana based on Braille く | Other kana based on Braille く | Other kana based on Braille く |
| く / ク ku | ぐ / グ gu | くう / クー kū | ぐう / グー gū | きゅ / キュ kyu | ぎゅ / ギュ gyu | きゅう / キュー kyū | ぎゅう / ギュー gyū |
* Computer encodings
Character information :
| Preview | く | く | ク | ク | ｸ | ｸ | ㇰ | ㇰ | ㋗ | ㋗ |
| Unicode name | HIRAGANA LETTER KU | HIRAGANA LETTER KU | KATAKANA LETTER KU | KATAKANA LETTER KU | HALFWIDTH KATAKANA LETTER KU | HALFWIDTH KATAKANA LETTER KU | KATAKANA LETTER SMALL KU | KATAKANA LETTER SMALL KU | CIRCLED KATAKANA KU | CIRCLED KATAKANA KU |
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 12367 | U+304F | 12463 | U+30AF | 65400 | U+FF78 | 12784 | U+31F0 | 13015 | U+32D7 |
| UTF-8 | 227 129 143 | E3 81 8F | 227 130 175 | E3 82 AF | 239 189 184 | EF BD B8 | 227 135 176 | E3 87 B0 | 227 139 151 | E3 8B 97 |
| Numeric character reference | &#12367; | &#x304F; | &#12463; | &#x30AF; | &#65400; | &#xFF78; | &#12784; | &#x31F0; | &#13015; | &#x32D7; |
| Shift JIS (plain) | 130 173 | 82 AD | 131 78 | 83 4E | 184 | B8 | | | | |
| Shift JIS-2004 | 130 173 | 82 AD | 131 78 | 83 4E | 184 | B8 | 131 236 | 83 EC | | |
| EUC-JP (plain) | 164 175 | A4 AF | 165 175 | A5 AF | 142 184 | 8E B8 | | | | |
| EUC-JIS-2004 | 164 175 | A4 AF | 165 175 | A5 AF | 142 184 | 8E B8 | 166 238 | A6 EE | | |
| GB 18030 | 164 175 | A4 AF | 165 175 | A5 AF | 132 49 152 48 | 84 31 98 30 | 129 57 188 52 | 81 39 BC 34 | | |
| EUC-KR / UHC | 170 175 | AA AF | 171 175 | AB AF | | | | | | |
| Big5 (non-ETEN kana) | 198 179 | C6 B3 | 199 71 | C7 47 | | | | | | |
| Big5 (ETEN / HKSCS) | 198 245 | C6 F5 | 199 171 | C7 AB | | | | | | |
Character information :
| Preview | ぐ | ぐ | グ | グ | く゚ | く゚ | ク゚ | ク゚ |
| Unicode name | HIRAGANA LETTER GU | HIRAGANA LETTER GU | KATAKANA LETTER GU | KATAKANA LETTER GU | HIRAGANA LETTER BIDAKUON NGU | HIRAGANA LETTER BIDAKUON NGU | KATAKANA LETTER BIDAKUON NGU | KATAKANA LETTER BIDAKUON NGU |
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 12368 | U+3050 | 12464 | U+30B0 | 12367 12442 | U+304F+309A | 12463 12442 | U+30AF+309A |
| UTF-8 | 227 129 144 | E3 81 90 | 227 130 176 | E3 82 B0 | 227 129 143 227 130 154 | E3 81 8F E3 82 9A | 227 130 175 227 130 154 | E3 82 AF E3 82 9A |
| Numeric character reference | &#12368; | &#x3050; | &#12464; | &#x30B0; | &#12367;&#12442; | &#x304F;&#x309A; | &#12463;&#12442; | &#x30AF;&#x309A; |
| Shift JIS (plain) | 130 174 | 82 AE | 131 79 | 83 4F | | | | |
| Shift JIS-2004 | 130 174 | 82 AE | 131 79 | 83 4F | 130 247 | 82 F7 | 131 153 | 83 99 |
| EUC-JP (plain) | 164 176 | A4 B0 | 165 176 | A5 B0 | | | | |
| EUC-JIS-2004 | 164 176 | A4 B0 | 165 176 | A5 B0 | 164 249 | A4 F9 | 165 249 | A5 F9 |
| GB 18030 | 164 176 | A4 B0 | 165 176 | A5 B0 | | | | |
| EUC-KR / UHC | 170 176 | AA B0 | 171 176 | AB B0 | | | | |
| Big5 (non-ETEN kana) | 198 180 | C6 B4 | 199 72 | C7 48 | | | | |
| Big5 (ETEN / HKSCS) | 198 246 | C6 F6 | 199 172 | C7 AC | | | | |