三つ

Japanese

Alternative spelling
3つ

Shift from previous 三(み)つ (mitsu).

(Tokyo) みっつ [mìttsúꜜ] (Odaka – [3])^[1]^[2]
(Tokyo) みっつ [mìttsú] (Heiban – [0])^[1] The Heiban pronunciation is adverbial^[1]^[2]
IPA^(key): [mʲit̚t͡sɨ]

(Tokyo) Note: As a rule, words that are Odaka become flat with の (の-particle deaccenting). However, the word 三つ does not become deaccented and is still pronounced as:

三(みっ)つ • (mittsu)

三(みっ)つ (mittsu) is used when the items counted have no specific counter category. See Wikipedia's "Japanese counter word" entry for details.

Alternative spelling
3つ

From Old Japanese. By surface analysis, 三 (mi, “three”) +‎ つ (tsu, generic counter word).

三(み)つ • (mitsu)

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 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), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

v • d • e Japanese counter/suffix: つ (tsu)
Number	Kanji	Kana	Romaji
1	一つ	ひとつ	hitotsu
2	二つ	ふたつ	futatsu
3	三つ	みっつ、みつ	mittsu, mitsu
4	四つ	よっつ、よつ	yottsu, yotsu
5	五つ	いつつ	itsutsu
6	六つ	むっつ、むつ	muttsu, mutsu
7	七つ	ななつ	nanatsu
8	八つ	やっつ、やつ	yattsu, yatsu
9	九つ	ここのつ	kokonotsu
?	幾つ	いくつ	ikutsu