See also:

U+305A, ず
HIRAGANA LETTER ZU
Composition: [U+3059] + ◌゙ [U+3099]

[U+3059]
Hiragana
[U+305B]

Japanese

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Stroke order
 

Etymology 1

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The hiragana character (su) with a dakuten ().

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): [d͡zɨᵝ], [zɨᵝ]

Syllable

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(zu

  1. The hiragana syllable (zu). Its equivalent in katakana is (zu).
See also
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Etymology 2

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Alternative spelling
(archaic)

From Old Japanese. Generally considered to be a combination of negation suffix (nu) in its 連用形 (ren'yōkei, continuative or stem form) of (ni) + verb (su).[1][2]

/nisu/ → */nzu//zu/

Appears both as zu and as the older nisu form in the Man'yōshū poetry anthology.

Pronunciation

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  • In the modern Tokyo dialect, when -ず attaches to the 未然形 (mizenkei) of a verb, the resulting accent usually follows the accent of the base verb, but exceptions are to be observed:
  • When attaching to a 平板式 (heiban-shiki) verb, the result is also 平板式 (heiban-shiki):
() (iu):  [iu] (Heiban – [0]) → わず [iwazu] (Heiban – [0])
() (neru):  [neru] (Heiban – [0]) →  [nezu] (Heiban – [0])
  • When attaching to a 起伏式 (kifuku-shiki) verb, the result is also 起伏式 (kifuku-shiki) with the アクセント核 (akusento-kaku, accent kernel) usually falling on the mora before -ず:
() (kaku):  [kaꜜku] (Atamadaka – [1]) →  [kakaꜜzu] (Nakadaka)
出来(でき) (dekiru):  [dekiꜜru] (Nakadaka) →  [dekiꜜzu] (Nakadaka)
  • For some accented -ず forms, the アクセント核 (akusento-kaku, accent kernel) falls on the mora before the mora before the -ず. This is in particular the case for fossilized (lexicalized) adverbials, as opposed to spontaneous suffixation. These exceptional accents are more traditional. In some cases, both accents exist with the exceptional, traditional accent being more strongly associated with the fossilized, adverbial meaning and the regular, modern accent being more strongly associated with the predictable verbal meaning.
    Examples of exceptional accents include: (あら) (arazu), ()からず (bekarazu), (おも)わず (omowazu), ()わず (towazu)
  • As with (senu) and (seyo), (sezu) is accented even though (suru) is not.
  • Some lexical items such as (はじ)()らず (hajishirazu) may appear to be exceptional when they are not; they get their accent from compounding:
     [hajiꜜ] (Odaka) + らず [shirazu] (Heiban – [0]) → じしらず [hajishiꜜrazu] (Nakadaka)

Suffix

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(-zu

  1. not doing
    (なに)()
    nani mo shirazu
    not knowing anything
Usage notes
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Much as the older negation suffix (nu) and the modern negation suffix ない (nai), (zu) must come after the 未然形 (mizenkei, irrealis or incomplete form) of a verb.

The suffix (zu) is more formal than the everyday negation suffix ない (nai).

The kanji spelling attaches to verbs as a prefix in kanbun style, forming jukujikun readings such as 不知(しらず) (shirazu) or 不悪(あしからず) (ashikarazu).

Conjugation
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Derived terms
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Etymology 3

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For pronunciation and definitions of – see the following entries.
2
[noun] diagram, figure, illustration
4
[noun] (historical) one of the punishments in the ancient Ritsuryō system; penal servitude
2
[noun] head
1
[verb] (obsolete) to go or come out
[verb] (obsolete) to appear
(This term, (zu), is the hiragana spelling of the above terms.)
For a list of all kanji read as , see Category:Japanese kanji read as ず.)

References

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  1. ^ ”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎[1] (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006
  2. ^ ”, in デジタル大辞泉 [Digital Daijisen]‎[2] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, updated roughly every four months