𛄟

See also: 汙 and う

𛄟 U+1B11F, 𛄟 HIRAGANA LETTER ARCHAIC WU ← 𛄞 [U+1B11E] Kana Extended-A 𛄠 → [U+1B120]

Japanese

Etymology

From 汙.

Syllable

𛄟 • (wu) 

1. The hiragana syllable 𛄟 (wu). Its equivalent in katakana is 𛄢 (wu).

Usage notes

In modern Japanese, old /β̞u/ evolved into /u/, and is written as う in hiragana and ウ in katakana. The sound /β̞u/ was reintroduced later and is written as うぅ in hiragana and ウゥ in katakana - however most speakers pronounce this as a long /u/ sound.

• 𛄟 is a retrospective invention. It was not actually used in the ancient Japanese literature (which uses man'yōgana instead) and thus is not included in the historical kana orthography.
• In Meiji era grammar books, 𛄟 was sometimes used to spell ワ行下二段活用 verbs.
• In ancient times, all は行 sounds were pronounced /pV/ (“V” being any of the Japanese vowels). Then, during the Nara period, it shifted to /ɸV/ when it was in the middle or at the end of a word. Between the Heian and Kamakura periods, /ɸV/ changed to /βV/→/β̞V/→/V/. Some older grammar books used 𛄟 to show this in ハ行四段活用 verbs, ハ行上二段活用 verbs, and ハ行下二段活用 verbs (e.g. 思(おも)ふ (omofu) as 思(おも)𛄟 (omowu).

Words containing Old Japanese /β̞u/ of Sinitic origin

• 教(きょう) (kyō) ← 教(け𛄟) (kewu)　← 教(けう) (keu)
• 香(こう) (kō) ← 香(か𛄟) (kawu)　← 香(かう) (kau)

Words containing Old Japanese /β̞u/ of Japonic origin

• 妹(いもうと) (imōto) ← 妹(いも𛄟と) (imowuto) ← 妹(いもひと) (imofito)

See also

The Hiragana script
あぁ	かゕがか゚	さざ	ただ	な	はばぱ	ま	やゃ	らら゚	わゎわ゙	ん
いぃ	きぎき゚	しじ	ちぢ	に	ひびぴ	み	𛀆	りり゚	ゐ𛅐ゐ゙
うぅゔ	くぐく゚	すず	つっづ	ぬ	ふぶぷ	む	ゆゅ	るる゚	𛄟
えぇ	けゖげけ゚	せぜ	てで	ね	へべぺ	め	𛀁	れれ゚	ゑ𛅑ゑ゙
おぉ	こごこ゚	そぞ	とど	の	ほぼぽ	も	よょ	ろろ゚	を𛅒を゙
Additional symbols ーゝゞゟ