ぬ

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

• IPA^(key): [nɯ̟]

ぬ • (nu) 

1. The hiragana syllable ぬ (nu). Its equivalent in katakana is ヌ (nu). It is the twenty-third syllable in the gojūon order; its position is な行う段 (na-gyō u-dan, “row na, section u”).

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

The 連(れん)体(たい)形(けい) (rentaikei, “attributive form”) of Classical Japanese negative suffix ず (-zu). During the transition into modern Japanese, the 終(しゅう)止(し)形(けい) (shūshikei, “terminal form”) was abandoned and its functions were taken up by the 連(れん)体(たい)形(けい) (rentaikei, “attributive form”). This suffix is turn from Old Japanese. For further detail, see ず (-zu).

• In the modern Tokyo dialect, when ぬ (-nu) attaches to the 未(み)然(ぜん)形(けい) (mizenkei, “irrealis or incomplete form”) of a verb, the resulting accent follows the lexical accent of the verb:

• When attaching to a 平(へい)板(ばん)式(しき) (heiban-shiki) verb, the result is also 平(へい)板(ばん)式(しき) (heiban-shiki):

言(い)う (iu): いう [iu] (Heiban – [0]) → いわぬ [iwanu] (Heiban – [0])

寝(ね)る (neru): ねる [neru] (Heiban – [0]) → ねぬ [nenu] (Heiban – [0])

• When attaching to a 起(き)伏(ふく)式(しき) (kifuku-shiki) verb, the result is also 起(き)伏(ふく)式(しき) (kifuku-shiki) with the アクセント核(かく) (akusento-kaku, “accent kernel”) falling on the mora before the ぬ (-nu):

書(か)く (kaku): か​く [kaꜜku] (Atamadaka – [1]) → かか​ぬ [kakaꜜnu] (Nakadaka)

出(で)来(き)る (dekiru): でき​る [dekiꜜru] (Nakadaka) → でき​ぬ [dekiꜜnu] (Nakadaka)

• As with せ​ず (sezu) and せ​よ (seyo), せ​ぬ (senu) is accented even though する (suru) is not.

ぬ • (-nu) 

1. (archaic) (after the 未(み)然(ぜん)形(けい) (mizenkei, “irrealis or incomplete form”) of a verb) the negative: indicates negation of the action, ending without starting or occurring: not

   風(かぜ)が立(た)たぬ

   kaze ga tatanu

   the wind does not rise / does not pick up

   予(よ)期(き)せぬエラーが発(はっ)生(せい)しました。

   Yoki senu erā ga hassei shimashita.

   An unexpected error has occurred.

• This word is morphologically an inflectional suffix. It is classified as a 助(じょ)動(どう)詞(し) (jodōshi, “auxiliary verb”) in traditional Japanese grammar.

• For classical conjugation, see ず.

(negative verb ending):

• (very casual, also archaic, also dialectal) ん (-n)
• (casual) ない (-nai)
• (formal) ません (-masen)
• (written formal) ず (-zu)
• (Kansai) へん (-hen)

From Old Japanese.^[1][2][3]

Many monolingual Japanese dictionaries^[1][2][3] derive this as a contraction of Old Japanese 往ぬ (inu, “to go away; to pass (such as time); to pass away, to die”); however, the meaning does not seem to make sense in the context of the verb ending -nu.

More recent work by Bjarke Frellesvig and others suggests that -nu may have originated from an ancient copular or stative verb.

ぬ • (-nu) 

1. (Classical Japanese or literary) (after the 連(れん)用(よう)形(けい) (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb) the perfective: indicates completion of the action, ending after starting or occurring: has done, has happened

   風(かぜ)が立(た)ちぬ

   kaze ga tachinu

   the wind has risen / has picked up

   • 1943, 土井晩翠 [Bansui Doi], transl., オヂュッセーア [Ojussēa, Odyssey]‎^[1], section 19:

     多(おほ)くの女(ぢよ)性(せい)彼(かれ)を見(み)て皆(みな)驚(きやう)嘆(たん)の目(め)を張(は)りぬ。

     Ōku no josei kare o mite mina kyōtan no me o harinu.

     Many women looked at him and all opened their eyes wide with admiration.

• In Old Japanese and continuing in classical and later Japanese, the ending ぬ (-nu) and the ending つ (-tsu) have both been used to mark the completion of an action. ぬ (-nu) was used mainly for verbs that indicated intransitive, naturally occurring, or unintentional actions, while つ (-tsu) was used mainly for verbs that indicated transitive or intentional actions. In the shift to modern Japanese, this distinction was lost, and Classical つ (-tsu) developed into modern た (-ta).
• In classical Japanese, perfective ぬ (-nu) conjugates differently from negative ぬ (-nu) (ず (-zu)), as shown in the following table:

	Negative ぬ (-nu) (ず (-zu))	Perfective ぬ (-nu)
Attaches to verb stem conjugated to →	Irrealis / 未(み)然(ぜん)形(けい) (mizenkei)	Continuative / 連(れん)用(よう)形(けい) (ren'yōkei)
Conjugates to ↓
Irrealis / 未(み)然(ぜん)形(けい) (mizenkei)	ず (-zu)	な (-na)
Continuative / 連(れん)用(よう)形(けい) (ren'yōkei)	ず (-zu)	に (-ni)
Terminal / 終(しゅう)止(し)形(けい) (shūshikei)	ず (-zu)	ぬ (nu)
Attributive / 連(れん)体(たい)形(けい) (rentaikei)	ぬ (-nu)	ぬる (-nuru)
Realis / 已(い)然(ぜん)形(けい) (izenkei)	ね (-ne)	ぬれ (-nure)
Imperative / 命(めい)令(れい)形(けい) (meireikei)	—	ね (-ne)

• In modern Japanese, ぬ (-nu) is rarely encountered, and it often imparts a formal or archaic sense.
• This word is morphologically an inflectional suffix. It is classified as 助(じょ)動(どう)詞(し) (jodōshi, “auxiliary verb”) in traditional Japanese grammar.

(perfective verb ending):

• (casual) た (-ta)
• (formal) ました (-mashita)

Cognate with Japanese の (no).

• IPA^(key): /nu/

ぬ (nu) 

1. possessive particle

Cognate with Japanese の (no).

• IPA^(key): /nu/

ぬ (nu) 

1. possessive particle

From Proto-Ryukyuan *no, from Proto-Japonic *nə (“nominative and genitive case marker”). Cognate with Japanese の (no).

• IPA^(key): /nu/

ぬ (nu) 

1. genitive case marker
   1. Indicates possession: of, -'s

      那覇(なーふぁ)ぬ天気(てぃんち)

      Nāfa-nu tinchi

      Naha's weather

2. nominative case marker
   1. Indicates the subject of a sentence.

      天道(てぃーだ)ぬ上(あ)がゆん。

      Tīda-nu agayun.

      The sun rises.

      鳥(とぅい)ぬ鳴(な)ちゅん。

      Tui-nu nachun.

      The birds sing.

• が (ga) is used for personal names or pronouns, ぬ (nu) is used otherwise. See Reconstruction:Proto-Ryukyuan/no § Usage notes for details.

• “ヌ” in Okinawa Center of Language Study, Shuri-Naha Dialect Dictionary (archived; reopens 2024).

The conjugation of this auxiliary verb appears to follow that of a defective n-row 四段活用(よだんかつよう) (yodan katsuyō) paradigm rather than a ナ行変格活用(ぎょうへんかくかつよう) (na-gyō henkaku katsuyō) paradigm, despite the fact that there was never an n-row 四段活用(よだんかつよう) (yodan katsuyō) paradigm.

Notably, this verb has no attested 終止形(しゅうしけい) (shūshikei); uses and conjugations off of にす (nisu) are seen instead. This verb also has no attested 命令形(めいれいけい) (meireikei).

ぬ (-nu)

1. (following the irrealis stem of verbs)
   1. expresses negation; not

• ず (zu)

Cognate with Japanese の (no).

• IPA^(key): /nu/

ぬ (nu) 

1. possessive particle

Cognate with Japanese の (no).

• IPA^(key): /nu/

ぬ (nu) 

1. possessive particle