動く

From Old Japanese. Attested in the Kojiki of 712.^[1] From Proto-Japonic *unkoku.

Likely derived as a compound of うご (ugo, a 擬態語 (gitaigo, “mimetic word”) imitative of something crawling or creeping; compare the sound shapes of roots wrig- or wig- in English wriggle, wiggle) +‎ く (ku, verb-forming suffix).^[1] Compare also the related adverb うごうご (ugougo, “wrigglingly, squirmlingly, creepingly: moving in continuous small increments”).

• (Tokyo) うごく (Nakadaka – )^[2]
• IPA^(key):

動(うご)く • (ugoku) intransitive godan (stem 動(うご)き (ugoki), past 動(うご)いた (ugoita))

1. to move
   1. to stir, shake, shift, swing

      動(うご)くな！国際警察(こくさいけいさつ)だ。

      Ugoku na! Kokusai keisatsu da.

      Interpol! Don't move!

      • c. 759, Man’yōshū, book 10, poem 2176:
        , text here:

        秋田苅(あきたかる)、苫手(とまで)揺(うごく)奈利(なり)、白露志(しらつゆし)、置穂田無跡(おくほだなしと)、告尓来良思(つげにきぬらし)

        aki ta karu, tomade ugoku nari, shiratsuyu shi, oku hoda nashi to, tsuge ni kinu rashi

        The autumn-harvest rush-mat shelter moves , as if has come to tell us that there are no more fields full of ripe and dew-laden grain...

   2. (as of a machine or device) to operate, run, go, work
   3. (as of a person or group) to work, go into action
   4. (emotionally) to be moved, touched, influenced
   5. to change, vary, fluctuate, waver

• 動(うご)かす (ugokasu): to move (transitive)
• うごうご (ugougo): wrigglingly, squirmlingly, creepingly: moving in continuous small increments
• 蠢(うごめ)く (ugomeku): to wriggle, to squirm
• うごなわる (ugonawaru): to gather

Rare dialectal variation on ugoku above.^[1][2]

Attested from the late Muromachi period (1336–1573).^[1]

• IPA^(key):

動(いご)く • (igoku) intransitive godan (stem 動(いご)き (igoki), past 動(いご)いた (igoita))

1. (archaic, possibly obsolete) to move

Rare dialectal variation on ugoku above.^[1]

Attested in a text from 1002.^[1]

• IPA^(key):

動(おご)く • (ogoku) intransitive godan (stem 動(おご)き (ogoki), past 動(おご)いた (ogoita))

1. (obsolete) to move