つ

つ U+3064, つ HIRAGANA LETTER TU ← っ [U+3063] Hiragana づ → [U+3065]

Stroke order

• IPA^(key): [t͡sɨ]

• Audio:

  (file)

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

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”).

• (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)

⟨tu⟩ → /t͡su/

From Old Japanese. According to one theory (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?), shortened from 棄(う)つ (<utu> → utsu, “throw away, discard”).

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

• 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.

• つつ (tsutsu, “although, while”)
• て (te, conjunctive suffix)

⟨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.^[1]

Yamada (1913) proposed that it is cognate with Old Korean 叱 (-s) (whence Middle Korean ㅅ (-s)). ^[2] 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")).

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

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”)

• が (ga)
• の (no)

Alternative spellings
個 箇

From Old Japanese.

つ • (-tsu) 

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

   Synonym: 個 (-ko)

Japanese number-counter combinations for つ (tsu)
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	How many?
一(ひと)つ (hitotsu)	二(ふた)つ (futatsu)	三(みっ)つ (mittsu) 三(み)つ (mitsu)	四(よっ)つ (yottsu) 四(よ)つ (yotsu)	五(いつ)つ (itsutsu)	六(むっ)つ (muttsu) 六(む)つ (mutsu)	七(なな)つ (nanatsu)	八(やっ)つ (yattsu) 八(や)つ (yatsu)	九(ここの)つ (kokonotsu)	幾(いく)つ (ikutsu)

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

つ • (tsu) 

1. 津: harbor, port; ferry

つ • (Tsu) 

1. 津: a place name
2. 津: a surname

つ • (tsu) 

1. 唾: saliva, spit

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

つ

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

• ノシ