つ

See also: づ, っ, and つ゚

つ	U+3064, つ HIRAGANA LETTER TU

← っ
[U+3063]

Hiragana

づ →
[U+3065]

Japanese

Stroke order

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [t͡sɨ]
Audio: (file)

Etymology 1

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

Syllable

つ • (tsu)

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”).

Etymology 2

⟨tu⟩ → /t͡su/

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

Suffix

つ • (-tsu)

(Classical Japanese) indicates the completion of an action
(Classical Japanese) indicates certainty
(Classical Japanese) indicates affirmation
(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

Classical conjugation of "つ" (タ行下二段活用, see Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

Stem forms
Irrealis (未然形)	て	te
Continuative (連用形)	て	te
Terminal (終止形)	つ	tu
Attributive (連体形)	つる	turu
Realis (已然形)	つれ	ture
Imperative (命令形)	てよ	teyo
Negative	ざりつ^[1]	zaritu
Contrasting conjunction	つれど	turedo
Causal conjunction	つれば	tureba
Conditional conjunction	てば	teba
^[1]Perfect tense of ず.

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.^[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")).

Particle

つ • (tsu)

(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”)

Etymology 4

Alternative spellings
個箇

From Old Japanese.

Counter

つ • (-tsu)

suffixed to Japanese numerals hito-, futa-, mi-, ... , kokono-, used to count almost anything
Synonym: 個 (-ko)

Derived terms

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)

Etymology 5

Noun

つ • (tsu)

津: harbor, port; ferry

Proper noun

つ • (Tsu)

津: a place name
津: a surname

Etymology 6

Noun

つ • (tsu)

唾: saliva, spit

Etymology 7

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

Symbol

つ

(Internet slang) Representing a hand handing something over.

References

^ Choi Kun-Sik (崔建植) (1999) “上代籍帳の人名における連体助詞「つ」について”, in 文学史研究 40‎^[1]
^ Yamada, Yoshio (1913) 奈良朝文法史

[1] Choi Kun-Sik (崔建植) (1999) “上代籍帳の人名における連体助詞「つ」について”, in 文学史研究 40‎^[1]

[2] Yamada, Yoshio (1913) 奈良朝文法史

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