Stroke order
Derived in the Heian period from writing the man'yōgana kanji 遠 とお in the cursive sōsho style.
( obsolete, except in careful speech or when singing )
を • (o )
( obsolete except as a particle) The hiragana syllable を ( o ) . Its equivalent in katakana is ヲ ( o ) . It is the forty-seventh syllable in the gojūon order; its position is わ行 くだり お段 だん ( wa-gyō o-dan , “ row wa , section o ” ) .
In most cases outside its use as a particle, it is replaced by お .
(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
うぉ ( wo )
/wo/ → /o/
From Proto-Japonic *wo . Cognate with Okinawan ゆ ( yu ) .
The historical spelling is retained despite the modern pronunciation (as with は ( wa ) and へ ( e ) ).
In songs or hyperformal contexts, the old pronunciation wo may be used.
を • (o )
A case particle.
( with transitive verb ) An accusative case particle: a grammatical marker following the direct object of a verb.
私 わたし ( わたし ) が リンゴ を 食 しょく ( た ) べる 。Watashi ga ringo o taberu. I eat an apple.
私 わたし ( わたし ) を リンゴが食 しょく ( た ) べる。Watashi o ringo ga taberu. An apple eats me.
As shown in the above two usage examples, Japanese sentences use particles to indicate subject and object, instead of using word order as in English.
( with intransitive verb ) away from, off
席 せき ( せき ) を 立 だて ( た ) つseki o tatsu to stand up from the seat
( with intransitive verb ) along , following a specified route, track, orbit, etc.
廊 ろう ( ろう ) 下 した ( か ) を 走 はし ( はし ) るrōka o hashiru to run down the corridor
街 まち ( まち ) を 歩 ふ ( ある ) くmachi o aruku to walk down the street
北 きた ( ほっ ) 海 うみ ( かい ) 道 みち ( どう ) を 流 ながれ ( なが ) れる川 かわ ( かわ ) Hokkaidō o nagareru kawa a river that flows through Hokkaido
地 ち ( ち ) 球 たま ( きゅう ) のまわりを 月 つき ( つき ) がまわる。Chikyū no mawari o tsuki ga mawaru. The Moon orbits the Earth.
( archaic ) A conjunctive particle, usually following the rentaikei of classical inflectible words.
Resultative conjunction: expresses reason or cause.
Contrastive conjunction.
( archaic , literary ) An interjectory particle, expressing sigh or emphasis.
, text [2]
我 わが ( あ ) を待 まち ( ま ) つと君 きみ ( きみ ) が濡( ぬ ) れけむあしひきの 山 やま ( やま ) のしづくにならましものを A o matsu to / Kimi ga nureken / Ashihiki no / Yama no shizuku ni / naramashi mono o You probably got wet while waiting for me; ah , I wish I could become a waterdrop in the mountain.
In highly informal speech, a lengthened vowel may be used instead of を : 手 て ( て ) ぇ上 うえ ( あ ) げ ろ ― tē agero ― raise your hands .
For pronunciation and definitions of を – see the following entries.
【小 しょう お 】 1
[prefix] attached to certain nouns :
[prefix] small in shape or scale
[prefix] attached to certain names to give expression or feelings ( Can we verify (+ ) this sense?)
[prefix] used proverbially to represent "small" or "slight" ( Can we verify (+ ) this sense?)
(This term, を ( wo ) , is a historical kana spelling of the above terms.)For a list of all kanji read as を , see Category:Japanese kanji read as を .)