書く

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Japanese

Kanji in this term
書
か
Grade: 2
kun’yomi

Glyph origin

Orthographic borrowing from Literary Chinese 書 (shū, “to write”).

Etymology

From Old Japanese, ultimately from Proto-Japonic *kaku (“to scratch”).

First attested in the Kojiki of 712 CE.

Cognate with 掻く (kaku, “to scratch”) (letters were originally scratched or carved into wood in order to write).

Pronunciation

  • Tokyo pitch accent of conjugated forms of "書く"
Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Terminal (終止形)
Attributive (連体形) 		書く か​く
Imperative (命令形) 書け か​け
Key constructions
Passive 書かれる かかれ​る
Causative 書かせる かかせ​る
Potential 書ける かけ​る
Volitional 書こう かこ​ー
Negative 書かない かか​ない
Negative perfective 書かなかった かか​なかった
Formal 書きます かきま​す
Perfective 書いた か​いた
Conjunctive 書いて か​いて
Hypothetical conditional 書けば か​けば

Verb

書(か)く • (kaku) transitive godan (stem 書(か)き (kaki), past 書(か)いた (kaita))

  1. to write; to record (words, figures) on the surface of (something)
    昨日陳(きのうチェン)さんは図書館(としょかん)でレポートを書(か)いていました。
    Kinō Chen-san wa toshokan de repōto o kaite imashita.
    Mr. Chen was writing a report at the library yesterday.
  2. to compose; to put (an idea, etc) into words

Conjugation

Conjugation of "書く" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)
Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective") 書か かか kaka
Ren’yōkei ("continuative") 書き かき kaki
Shūshikei ("terminal") 書く かく kaku
Rentaikei ("attributive") 書く かく kaku
Kateikei ("hypothetical") 書け かけ kake
Meireikei ("imperative") 書け かけ kake
Key constructions
Passive 書かれる かかれる kakareru
Causative 書かせる
書かす 		かかせる
かかす 		kakaseru
kakasu
Potential 書ける かける kakeru
Volitional 書こう かこう kakō
Negative 書かない かかない kakanai
Negative continuative 書かず かかず kakazu
Formal 書きます かきます kakimasu
Perfective 書いた かいた kaita
Conjunctive 書いて かいて kaite
Hypothetical conditional 書けば かけば kakeba
Classical conjugation of "書く" (カ行四段活用, see Appendix:Japanese verbs.)
Stem forms
Irrealis (未然形) 書か かか kaka
Continuative (連用形) 書き かき kaki
Terminal (終止形) 書く かく kaku
Attributive (連体形) 書く かく kaku
Realis (已然形) 書け かけ kake
Imperative (命令形) 書け かけ kake
Key constructions
Negative 書かず かかず kakazu
Contrasting conjunction 書けど かけど kakedo
Causal conjunction 書けば かけば kakeba
Conditional conjunction 書かば かかば kakaba
Past tense (firsthand knowledge) 書きき かきき kakiki
Past tense (secondhand knowledge) 書きけり かきけり kakikeri
Perfect tense (conscious action) 書きつ かきつ kakitu
Perfect tense (natural event) 書きぬ かきぬ kakinu
Perfect-continuative tense 書けり
書きたり		 かけり
かきたり		 kakeri
kakitari
Volitional 書かむ かかむ kakamu

Derived terms

Related terms

References

  1. ^ “書・描”, in 日本国語大辞典 (Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, “Nihon Kokugo Daijiten”)‎ (in Japanese), concise edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 2000
  2. ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. ^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK Publishing, →ISBN
  • 2002, Ineko Kondō; Fumi Takano; Mary E Althaus; et. al., Shogakukan Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary, Third Edition, Tokyo: Shōgakukan, →ISBN.
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