Japanese

Stroke order

Syllable

ず ‎(romaji zu)

1. The hiragana syllable ず ‎(zu). Its equivalent in katakana is ズ ‎(zu).

See also

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

Etymology 2

From Old Japanese. Generally considered to be a combination of negation suffix ぬ ‎(nu) in its 連用形 ‎(ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of に ‎(ni) + honorific suffix す ‎(su).^[1][2][3]

/nisu/ → */nzu/ → /zu/

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

Suffix

ず ‎(romaji -zu)

1. not

   何 (なに)も知 (し)らず

   nani mo shirazu

   not knowing anything

Usage notes

Much as the older negation suffix ぬ ‎(nu) and the modern negation suffix ない ‎(nai), ず (zu) must come after the 未然形 ‎(mizenkei, “irrealis or incomplete form”) of a verb.

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

Etymology 3

The reading for various kanji.

Noun

ず ‎(romaji zu)

1. 図: diagram, figure, illustration
2. 徒: imprisonment for one to three years
3. 頭: head

Verb

ず ‎(nidan conjugation, romaji zu)

1. 出: (obsolete) come out

References

1. ↑ 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
2. ↑ 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
3. ↑ 1995, 大辞泉 (Daijisen) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, ISBN 4-09-501211-0