に

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に U+306B, に
HIRAGANA LETTER NI
← な
 		Hiragana ぬ →

Japanese

Stroke order
3 strokes

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

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

Syllable

に • (ni) 

  1. The hiragana syllable に (ni). Its equivalent in katakana is ニ (ni). It is the twenty-second syllable in the gojūon order; its position is な行い段 (na-gyō i-dan, “row na, section i”).
See also

Etymology 2

From Old Japanese, from Proto-Japonic *ni.

Particle

に • (ni) 

  1. (with nouns)
    1. particle for indirect objects; to
      俺(おれ)に返(かえ)せ。
      Ore ni kaese.
      Give it back to me.
    2. particle for location; in, at
      学(がっ)校(こう)にいる。
      Gakkō ni iru.
      I'm at/in school.
    3. particle for direction; toward, into
      銀(ぎん)行(こう)に行(い)った。
      Ginkō ni itta.
      I went to the bank.
      学(がっ)校(こう)に行(い)く。
      Gakkō ni iku.
      I'm going to school.
    4. particle indicating a passive agent; by
      蚊(か)にさされた。
      Ka ni sasareta.
      I was bitten by a mosquito.
    5. particle indicating a point in time; at
      ７(しち)時(じ)にね。
      Shichi-ji ni ne.
      It is at seven o'clock. (confirmation of when an event will take place)
    6. particle used occasionally to replace と when organizing and counting; and
    7. particle for indicating the emotional reason that one does something; in
      お礼(れい)にお菓(か)子(し)を贈(おく)る
      o-rei ni o-kashi o okuru
      to gift sweets in gratitude
      復(ふく)讐(しゅう)に殺(さつ)人(じん)を犯(おか)す
      fukushū ni satsujin o okasu
      to commit murder in revenge
  2. (with the stem form of verbs)
    1. particle indicating purpose/intent; for; to
      映(えい)画(が)を見(み)に行(い)く。
      Eiga o mi ni iku.
      I'm going to see a movie.
      寝(ね)に帰(かえ)るだけの部(へ)屋(や)
      ne ni kaeru dake no heya
      a room only used when coming home to sleep
  3. (with な-adjectives)
    1. adverbializer; -ly
      Coordinate term: (with い-adjectives) く
      確(たし)かに
      tashika ni
      certainly
Synonyms
  • へ (e): to; toward
    In the sense indicating destination, the particles へ (e) and に (ni) are often interchangeable, though there is a slight difference of connotation or emphasis. へ (e) emphasizes the journey to the destination, while に (ni) emphasizes the arrival or entering it. The distinction is not quite the same as between English to and into; に (ni) is usually best translated as to because に (ni), unlike English into, can refer to the journey in addition to the arrival or entering the destination.

Etymology 3

Alternative spelling
似

Pronunciation

Suffix

に • (-ni) 

  1. (of a child) taking after (in appearance)
    お母(かあ)さん似(に)
    okāsan-ni
    resembling their mother

Verb

に • (ni) 

  1. imperfective and stem (or continuative) forms of にる (niru)

Etymology 4

Verb

に • (ni) 

  1. Continuative of ず (zu, “auxiliary verb of negation”)
    がえんじる ― to not consent

Etymology 5

For pronunciation and definitions of に – see the following entries.
【二】1
two, 2
second
two, 2
【弐】S
two, 2
(This term, に, is the hiragana spelling of the above terms.)
For a list of all kanji read as に, see Category:Japanese kanji read as に.)
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