ぬ

• IPA^(key): [nɯ̟ᵝ]

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

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, こ𛄲 (𛄲)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, らら゚, りり゚, るる゚, れれ゚, ろろ゚, わゎわ゙, ゐ𛅐 (𛅐)ゐ゙, 𛄟 (𛄟), ゑ𛅑 (𛅑)ゑ゙, を𛅒 (𛅒)を゙, ん, ー, ゝ, ゞ, ゟ

Originally the 連体形 (rentaikei, “attributive form”) of Classical Japanese negative suffix ず (zu). In modern Japanese, the 終止形 (shūshikei, “terminal form”) (lemma, originally ず (zu)) assimilated to ぬ (nu). In turn, from Old Japanese. For further detail, see ず (zu).

ぬ • (-nu) 

1. (archaic) (after the 未然形 (mizenkei, “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 助動詞 (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 連用形 (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, 土井晩翠譯『オヂュッセーア』第十九歌

     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 / 未然形 (mizenkei)	Continuative / 連用形 (ren'yōkei)
Conjugates to ↓
Irrealis / 未然形 (mizenkei)	ず (zu)	な (na)
Continuative / 連用形 (ren'yōkei)	ず (zu)	に (ni)
Terminal / 終止形 (shūshikei)	ず (zu)	ぬ (nu)
Attributive / 連体形 (rentaikei)	ぬ (nu)	ぬる (nuru)
Realis / 已然形 (izenkei)	ね (ne)	ぬれ (nure)
Imperative / 命令形 (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 助動詞 (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 *no 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