き

See also: さ, ぎ, and き゚

き U+304D, き HIRAGANA LETTER KI ← が [U+304C] Hiragana ぎ → [U+304E]

Japanese

Stroke order

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [kʲi]

Etymology 1

Derived in the Heian period from writing the man'yōgana kanji 幾 in the cursive sōsho style. Variants include those derived by similar process from 支, 起, 木, 祈, 貴 and 喜.

Syllable

き (romaji ki)

1. The hiragana syllable き (ki). Its equivalent in katakana is キ (ki). It is the seventh syllable in the gojūon order; its position is か行い段 (ka-gyō i-dan, “row ka, section i”).

Derived terms

• ぎ (gi)

See also

• (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, ゆゅ, よょ, ら, り, る, れ, ろ, わゎ, ゐ, ゑ, を, ん, ー, ゝ, ゞ, ゟ

Etymology 2

Noun

き (rōmaji ki)

1. 木: tree
2. 気: air, spirit

Suffix

き (rōmaji -ki)

1. 器: device; container
2. 忌: anniversary of one's death
3. 記: history, account, record
4. 期: time, period; geological age

Counter

き (rōmaji -ki)

1. 騎: horsemen
2. 機: aircraft; lives in video games
3. 基: installed or mounted objects such as gravestones

Etymology 3

Suffix

き (rōmaji -ki)

1. (Classical Japanese, jodōshi) Indicates past tense: -ed

   Used when the speaker has directly experienced the event described, as opposed to けり.

Conjugation

Classical conjugation of "き" (irregular)

Stem forms
Irrealis (未然形)	せ け		se ke
Continuative (連用形)			-
Terminal (終止形)	き		ki
Attributive (連体形)	し		si
Realis (已然形)	しか		sika
Imperative (命令形)			-
Key constructions
Negative	[1]		-
Contrasting conjunction	しかど		sikado
Causal conjunction	しかば		sikaba
Conditional conjunction	せば けば		seba keba
[1]Use past tense of ず

Usage notes

Follows the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of inflectable words, except:

	終止形 (“terminal”)	連体形 (“continuative”)	已然形 (“realis”)
来 (く) (ku) + き	(unattested)	こし (koshi)	こしか (koshika)
す (su) + き	しき (shiki)	せし (seshi)	せしか (seshika)

Related terms

• けむ (kemu)

See also

• けり (keri)