Wu (kana) explained

Wu (hiragana: Japanese: , katakana: Japanese: ) is a Japanese mora or a kana used to write it, though it has never been in standard use.^[1]

History

It is presumed that Japanese: would have represented pronounced as //β̞u//. Along with Japanese: and Japanese: (yi and ye respectively), the mora wu has no officially recognized kana, as these morae do not occur in native Japanese words; however, during the Meiji period, linguists almost unanimously agreed on the kana for yi, ye, and wu. Japanese: and wu are thought to have never occurred as morae in Japanese, and Japanese: was merged with Japanese: [[E (kana)|え]] and Japanese: [[E (kana)|エ]].

Characters

In the Edo period and the Meiji period, some Japanese linguists tried to separate kana u and kana wu. The shapes of characters differed with each linguist. Japanese: and Japanese: were just two of many shapes.

They were phonetic symbols to fill in the blanks of the gojuon table. Japanese people didn't separate them in normal writing.

• u
  • Traditional kana
    • う^[2] (Hiragana)
    • ^[3] (Hentaigana of う. Hiragana.)
    • ^[4] (Hentaigana of う. Hiragana.)
    • ウ^[5] (Katakana)
  • Constructed kana
    • ^[6] (A part of 傴. Katakana.)
• wu
  • Traditional kana
    • う^[7] (Hiragana)
    • ^[8] (Hentaigana of う. Hiragana.)
    • ウ^[9] (Katakana)
    • ^{[10] [11]} (An old variant form of ウ. Katakana.)
  • Constructed kana
    • う^〻[12] (う with dots. Hiragana.)
    • ^[13] (A cursive script style of 汙.^[14] Hiragana.)
    • ^[15] (A cursive script style of 紆. Hiragana.)
    • ^[16] (A cursive script style of 迂. Hiragana,)
    • ^[17] (A cursive script style of 卯. Hiragana.)
    • ウ^〻[18] (ウ with dots. Katakana.)

These suggestions weren't accepted.

Unicode

This kana has been encoded into Unicode 14.0 since September 14, 2021 as HIRAGANA LETTER ARCHAIC WU (U+1B11F), and KATAKANA LETTER ARCHAIC WU (U+1B122).

References

1. Iannacone, Jake (2020). "Reply to The Origin of Hiragana /wu/ 平仮名のわ行うの字源に対する新たな発見"
2. https://nierlib.nier.go.jp/lib/database/KINDAI/EG00001141/ 綴字篇
3. Book: [{{NDLDC|862200/14}} 仮名遣]. 村山自彊. 中島幹事. 1891. 開新堂. 19.
4. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/993449/16 音韻啓蒙 : 2巻. 上巻
5. https://nierlib.nier.go.jp/lib/database/KINDAI/EG00001141/ 綴字篇
6. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/993449/16 音韻啓蒙 : 2巻. 上巻
7. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/993449/16 音韻啓蒙 : 2巻. 上巻
8. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1870622/12 日本新文典
9. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/993449/16 音韻啓蒙 : 2巻. 上巻
10. https://nierlib.nier.go.jp/lib/database/KINDAI/EG00001141/ 綴字篇
11. Book: [{{NDLDC|862191/4}} 片仮名元字]. 有賀長隣. 4.
12. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/863888/8 小学日本文典入門. 巻之1
13. https://nierlib.nier.go.jp/lib/database/KINDAI/EG00001141/ 綴字篇
14. Iannacone, Jake (2020). "Reply to The Origin of Hiragana /wu/ 平仮名のわ行うの字源に対する新たな発見"
15. https://nierlib.nier.go.jp/lib/database/KINDAI/EG00001141/ 綴字篇
16. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/862259/7 国語仮字つかい
17. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/992989/27 辞礎
18. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/863888/8 小学日本文典入門. 巻之1

See also

• Yi (kana)
• Ye (kana)