つ

See also: づ, っ, and つ゚

つ U+3064, つ HIRAGANA LETTER TU ← っ [U+3063] Hiragana づ → [U+3065]

Japanese

Stroke order

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [t͡sɨ]

• Audio:

  (file)

Etymology 1

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

Syllable

つ • (tsu) 

1. The hiragana syllable つ (tsu). Its equivalent in katakana is ツ (tsu). It is the eighteenth syllable in the gojūon order; its position is た行くだりう段だん (ta-gyō u-dan, “row ta, section u”).

See also

• (Hiragana) 平仮名ひらがな; 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
• とぅ (tu)

Etymology 2

⟨tu⟩ → /t͡su/

From Old Japanese. According to one theory (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?), shortened from 棄(う)つ (<utu> → utsu, “throw away, discard”).

Suffix

つ • (-tsu) 

1. (Classical Japanese) indicates the completion of an action
2. (Classical Japanese) indicates certainty
3. (Classical Japanese) indicates affirmation
4. (Classical Japanese, in the form ...tsu ...tsu) shows parallel action

Usage notes

• 下した二に段だん活用かつよう (shimo nidan katsuyō, “lower bigrade conjugation”). Attaches to the 連用形れんようけい (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of a verb.
• つ (tsu) is mainly used with transitive verbs while ぬ (nu) is mainly used with intransitive verbs.
• This word is morphologically an inflectional suffix. It is classified as 助動詞じょどうし (jodōshi, “auxiliary verb”) in traditional Japanese grammar.

Conjugation

Classical conjugation of "つ" (タ行ぎょう下か二に段だん活用かつよう, see Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

Stem forms
Irrealis (未然みぜん形がた)	て		te
Continuative (連用形れんようけい)	て		te
Terminal (終止しゅうし形がた)	つ		tu
Attributive (連体れんたい形がた)	つる		turu
Realis (已然いぜん形がた)	つれ		ture
Imperative (命令めいれい形がた)	てよ		teyo
Negative	ざりつ[1]		zaritu
Contrasting conjunction	つれど		turedo
Causal conjunction	つれば		tureba
Conditional conjunction	てば		teba
[1]Perfect tense of ず.

Derived terms

• つつ (tsutsu, “although, while”)
• て (te, conjunctive suffix)

Etymology 3

⟨tu⟩ → /t͡su/

From Old Japanese.

There were some variants found in the old documents, starting with alveolar consonants like の (no), な (na), す (su), し (shi), て (te) etc.

Yamada (1913) proposed that it is cognate with Old Korean 叱しか (-s) (whence Middle Korean ㅅ (-s)). However, the phonology does not match, and there is a distinct vestigial medial -s- that appears in certain ancient Japanese terms, such as 春雨はるさめ (harusame, possibly haru ("spring") + -s- (genitive) + ame ("rain")), 新しん稲いね (nīshine, possibly nī ("new") + -s- (genitive) + ine ("rice")), 真青まっさお (masao, possibly ma ("true, real") + -s- (genitive) + ao ("blue")).

Particle

つ • (tsu) 

1. (archaic, obsolete) genitive or possessive marker

   豊ゆたか(とよ)葦あし(あし)原はら(はらの)中なか(なかつ)国くに(くに)

   Toyoashihara no Nakatsukuni

   Toyoashihara no Nakatsukuni

   天てん(あま)つ風ふう(かぜ)

   ama tsu kaze

   wind blowing from the heavens

   国くに(くに)つ神かみ(かみ)

   kuni tsu kami

   kami of the land

Usage notes

A few terms in modern Japanese have been derived from the possessive marker tsu:

• 目め(ま) (ma, “eye”, combining form) + つ (tsu) + 毛もう(け) (ke, “hair”) → 睫まつげ(まつげ) (matsuge, “eyelashes”)
• 身み(み) (mi, “body”) + つ (tsu) + 柄え(から) (kara, “design → by itself”) → 自じ(みずか)ら (mizukara, “personally, oneself”)

See also

• が (ga)
• の (no)

Etymology 4

Alternative spellings
個こ 箇

From Old Japanese.

Counter

つ • (-tsu) 

1. suffixed to Japanese numerals hito-, futa-, mi-, ... , kokono-, used to count almost anything

   Synonym: 個こ (-ko)

Derived terms

Japanese number-counter combinations for つ (tsu)
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	How many?
一いち(ひと)つ (hitotsu)	二に(ふた)つ (futatsu)	三さん(みっ)つ (mittsu) 三さん(み)つ (mitsu)	四よん(よっ)つ (yottsu) 四よん(よ)つ (yotsu)	五ご(いつ)つ (itsutsu)	六ろく(むっ)つ (muttsu) 六ろく(む)つ (mutsu)	七なな(なな)つ (nanatsu)	八はち(やっ)つ (yattsu) 八はち(や)つ (yatsu)	九きゅう(ここの)つ (kokonotsu)	幾いく(いく)つ (ikutsu)

See also

• ち (-chi), for 二十歳はたち (hatachi), みそじ (misoji)

Etymology 5

Noun

つ • (tsu) 

1. 津つ: harbor, port; ferry

Proper noun

つ • (Tsu) 

1. 津つ: a place name
2. 津つ: a surname

Etymology 6

Noun

つ • (tsu) 

1. 唾つば: saliva, spit

Etymology 7

Probably from kaomoji such as (´･ωおめが･)つ旦だん, which represents serving tea.

Symbol

つ

1. (Internet slang) Representing a hand handing something over.

See also

• ノシ