# く

| く | U+304F, &#12367; HIRAGANA LETTER KU |
| ← ぎ [U+304E] | Hiragana | ぐ → [U+3050] |

## Japanese
### Pronunciation

* IPA: [kɯ̟]

### Etymology 1

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

#### Syllable

く • (ku)
* 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, こ𛄲 (𛄲)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, 𛀆, ゆゅ, 𛀁, よょ, らら゚, りり゚, るる゚, れれ゚, ろろ゚, わゎわ゙, ゐ𛅐 (𛅐)ゐ゙, 𛄟 (𛄟), ゑ𛅑 (𛅑)ゑ゙, を𛅒 (𛅒)を゙, 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 are uncreated: 工, 久, 供, 駆, 駒, 狗, 懼.)

### Etymology 3

Some obsolete inflections.

#### Verb

く • (ku)
* 消: disappear
* 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)
* (obsolete) A nominalizing suffix in Old Japanese.

##### Usage notes

| 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)