# ず

| ず | U+305A, &#12378; HIRAGANA LETTER ZU |
| Composition: | す [U+3059] + ◌゙ [U+3099] |
| ← す [U+3059] | Hiragana | せ → [U+305B] |

## Japanese
### Etymology 1

The hiragana character す (su) with a dakuten (゛).

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: [d͡zɨᵝ], [zɨᵝ]

#### Syllable

ず • (zu)
* The hiragana syllable ず (zu). Its equivalent in katakana is ズ (zu).

##### See also

The Hiragana script :
| あぁあ゙ | かゕがか゚ | さざさ゚ | ただた゚ | な | はばぱ | ま | やゃ | らら゚ | わゎわ゙ |
| いぃい゙ | きぎき゚ | しじし゚ | ちぢち゚ | に | ひびぴ | み | 𛀆 | りり゚ | ゐ𛅐ゐ゙ |
| うぅゔう゚ | くぐく゚ | すずす゚ | つっづつ゚ | ぬ | ふぶぷ | む | ゆゅ | るる゚ | 𛄟 |
| えぇえ゙ | けゖげけ゚ | せぜせ゚ | てでて゚ | ね | へべぺ | め | 𛀁 | れれ゚ | ゑ𛅑ゑ゙ |
| おぉお゙ | こ𛄲ごこ゚ | そぞそ゚ | とどと゚ | の | ほぼぽ | も | よょ | ろろ゚ | を𛅒を゙ |
| Additional symbols ーゝゞゝ゚ゟ |||||||||||

### Etymology 2

* Alternative spelling
* 不 (archaic)
From Old Japanese. Generally considered to be a combination of negation suffix ぬ (nu) in its 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of に (ni) + verb す (su).
/nisu/ → */nzu/ → /zu/
Appears both as zu and as the older nisu form in the Man'yōshū poetry anthology.

#### Pronunciation

* In the modern Tokyo dialect, when -ず attaches to the 未然形 (mizenkei) of a verb, the resulting accent usually follows the accent of the base verb, but exceptions are to be observed:
   * When attaching to a 平板式 (heiban-shiki) verb, the result is also 平板式 (heiban-shiki):
          言(い)う (iu): いう [iu] (Heiban – [0]) → いわず [iwazu] (Heiban – [0])
          寝(ね)る (neru): ねる [neru] (Heiban – [0]) → ねず [nezu] (Heiban – [0])
   * When attaching to a 起伏式 (kifuku-shiki) verb, the result is also 起伏式 (kifuku-shiki) with the アクセント核 (akusento-kaku, “accent kernel”) usually falling on the mora before -ず:
          書(か)く (kaku): か​く [kaꜜku] (Atamadaka – [1]) → かか​ず [kakaꜜzu] (Nakadaka)
          出来(でき)る (dekiru): でき​る [dekiꜜru] (Nakadaka) → でき​ず [dekiꜜzu] (Nakadaka)
   * For some accented -ず forms, the アクセント核 (akusento-kaku, “accent kernel”) falls on the mora before the mora before the -ず. This is in particular the case for fossilized (lexicalized) adverbials, as opposed to spontaneous suffixation. These exceptional accents are more traditional. In some cases, both accents exist with the exceptional, traditional accent being more strongly associated with the fossilized, adverbial meaning and the regular, modern accent being more strongly associated with the predictable verbal meaning.
       Examples of exceptional accents include: 非(あら)ず (arazu), 可(べ)からず (bekarazu), 思(おも)わず (omowazu), 問(と)わず (towazu)
   * As with せ​ぬ (senu) and せ​よ (seyo), せ​ず (sezu) is accented even though する (suru) is not.
   * Some lexical items such as 恥(はじ)知(し)らず (hajishirazu) may appear to be exceptional when they are not; they get their accent from compounding:
       はじ​ [hajiꜜ] (Odaka) + しらず [shirazu] (Heiban – [0]) → はじし​らず [hajishiꜜrazu] (Nakadaka)

#### Suffix

ず • (-zu)
* not doing
    何(なに)も知(し)らず
       nani mo shirazu
       not knowing anything

##### Usage notes

Much as the older negation suffix ぬ (nu) and the modern negation suffix ない (nai), ず (zu) must come after the 未然形 (mizenkei, “irrealis or incomplete form”) of a verb.
The suffix ず (zu) is more formal than the everyday negation suffix ない (nai).
The kanji spelling 不 attaches to verbs as a prefix in kanbun style, forming jukujikun readings such as 不知(しらず) (shirazu) or 不悪(あしからず) (ashikarazu).

##### Conjugation

Stem forms :
| Irrealis (未然形) | ず ざら な$^{[1]}$ | ず ざら な$^{[1]}$ | zu zara na |
| Continuative (連用形) | ず$^{[2]}$ ざり$^{[3]}$ に$^{[1]}$ | ず$^{[2]}$ ざり$^{[3]}$ に$^{[1]}$ | zu zari ni |
| Terminal (終止形) | ず ざり | ず ざり | zu zari |
| Attributive (連体形) | ぬ ざる | ぬ ざる | nu zaru |
| Realis (已然形) | ね ざれ | ね ざれ | ne zare |
| Imperative (命令形) | ざれ | ざれ | zare |
| Key constructions ||||
| Negative | | | - |
| Contrasting conjunction | ねど ざれど | ねど ざれど | nedo zaredo |
| Causal conjunction | ねば ざれば | ねば ざれば | neba zareba |
| Conditional conjunction | ずは ずば ざらば | ずは ずば ざらば | zufa zuba zaraba |
| Past tense (firsthand knowledge) | ざりき | ざりき | zariki |
| Past tense (secondhand knowledge) | ざりけり | ざりけり | zarikeri |
| Perfect tense (conscious action) | ざりつ | ざりつ | zaritu |
| Perfect tense (natural event) | ざりぬ$^{[4]}$ | ざりぬ$^{[4]}$ | zarinu |
| Perfect-continuative tense | ざりたり | ざりたり | zaritari |
| Adverbial | ず | ず | zu |
| $^{[1]}$Nara period form. $^{[2]}$Without auxiliary verbs. $^{[3]}$With auxiliary verbs. $^{[4]}$Unattested. ||||

##### Derived terms

* ずに (-zu ni, “without”)

### Etymology 3

For pronunciation and definitions of ず – see the following entries. :
| 【図】2 | [noun] diagram, figure, illustration |
| 【徒】4 | [noun] (historical) one of the punishments in the ancient Ritsuryō system; penal servitude |
| 【頭】2 | [noun] head |
| 【出】1 | [verb] (obsolete) to go or come out [verb] (obsolete) to appear |
(This term, ず (zu), is the hiragana spelling of the above terms.) For a list of all kanji read as ず, see Category:Japanese kanji read as ず.) :

### References

* ↑ “ず”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎ (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006
* ↑ “ず”, in デジタル大辞泉 [Digital Daijisen]‎ (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, updated roughly every four months