つ

つ U+3064, つ HIRAGANA LETTER TU ← っ Hiragana づ →

Japanese

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

Derived in the Heian period from writing the man'yōgana kanji 川 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 た行う段 (ta-gyō u-dan, “row ta, section u”).

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
• とぅ (tu)

Etymology 2

⟨tu⟩ → /t͡su/

From Old Japanese. According to one theory, 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

• 下二段活用 (shimo nidan katsuyō, “lower bigrade conjugation”). Attaches to the 連用形 (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 (jodōshi, “auxiliary verb”) in traditional Japanese grammar.

Conjugation

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 (-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 (harusame, possibly haru ("spring") + -s- (genitive) + ame ("rain")), 新稲 (nīshine, possibly nī ("new") + -s- (genitive) + ine ("rice")), 真青 (masao, possibly ma ("true, real") + -s- (genitive) + ao ("blue")).

Particle

つ • (tsu) 

1. (archaic, obsolete) genitive or possessive marker

   豊(とよ)葦(あし)原(はらの)中(なかつ)国(くに)

   Toyoashihara no Nakatsukuni

   Toyoashihara no Nakatsukuni

   天(あま)つ風(かぜ)

   ama tsu kaze

   wind blowing from the heavens

   国(くに)つ神(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(ま) (ma, “eye”, combining form) + つ (tsu) + 毛(け) (ke, “hair”) → 睫(まつげ) (matsuge, “eyelashes”)
• 身(み) (mi, “body”) + つ (tsu) + 柄(から) (kara, “design → by itself”) → 自(みずか)ら (mizukara, “personally, oneself”)

See also

• が (ga)
• の (no)

Etymology 4

From Old Japanese.

Counter

つ • (-tsu) 

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

   Synonym: 個 (-ko)

Derived terms

See also

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

Etymology 5

Noun

つ • (tsu) 

1. 津: harbor, port; ferry

Proper noun

つ • (Tsu) 

1. 津: a place name
2. 津: a surname

Etymology 6

Noun

つ • (tsu) 

1. 唾: saliva, spit

Etymology 7

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

Symbol

つ

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

See also

• ノシ

References