書く

Japanese
Kanji in this term
書
か
Grade: 2
kun’yomi

Glyph origin

Orthographic borrowing from Literary Chinese 書 (shū, “to write”).

Etymology

From Old Japanese, ultimately from Proto-Japonic *kaku (“to scratch”).

First attested in the Kojiki of 712 CE.[1]

Cognate with 掻く (kaku, “to scratch”) (letters were originally scratched or carved into wood in order to write).

Pronunciation
  • Tokyo pitch accent of conjugated forms of "書く"
Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Terminal (終止形)
Attributive (連体形)		 書く か​く [káꜜkù]
Imperative (命令形) 書け か​け [káꜜkè]
Key constructions
Passive 書かれる かかれ​る [kàkáréꜜrù]
Causative 書かせる かかせ​る [kàkáséꜜrù]
Potential 書ける かけ​る [kàkéꜜrù]
Volitional 書こう かこ​ー [kàkóꜜò]
Negative 書かない かか​ない [kàkáꜜnàì]
Negative perfective 書かなかった かか​なかった [kàkáꜜnàkàttà]
Formal 書きます かきま​す [kàkímáꜜsù]
Perfective 書いた か​いた [káꜜìtà]
Conjunctive 書いて か​いて [káꜜìtè]
Hypothetical conditional 書けば か​けば [káꜜkèbà]

Verb

書(か)く • (kaku) transitive godan (stem 書(か)き (kaki), past 書(か)いた (kaita))

  1. to write; to record (words, figures) on the surface of (something)
    昨日陳(きのうチェン)さんは図書館(としょかん)でレポートを書(か)いていました。
    Kinō Chen-san wa toshokan de repōto o kaite imashita.
    Mr. Chen was writing a report at the library yesterday.
  2. to compose; to put (an idea, etc) into words

Conjugation
Conjugation of "書く" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)
Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective") 書か かか kaka
Ren’yōkei ("continuative") 書き かき kaki
Shūshikei ("terminal") 書く かく kaku
Rentaikei ("attributive") 書く かく kaku
Kateikei ("hypothetical") 書け かけ kake
Meireikei ("imperative") 書け かけ kake
Key constructions
Passive 書かれる かかれる kakareru
Causative 書かせる
書かす		 かかせる
かかす		 kakaseru
kakasu
Potential 書ける かける kakeru
Volitional 書こう かこう kakō
Negative 書かない かかない kakanai
Negative continuative 書かず かかず kakazu
Formal 書きます かきます kakimasu
Perfective 書いた かいた kaita
Conjunctive 書いて かいて kaite
Hypothetical conditional 書けば かけば kakeba
Classical conjugation of "書く" (カ行四段活用, see Appendix:Japanese verbs.)
Stem forms
Irrealis (未然形) 書かかかkaka
Continuative (連用形) 書きかきkaki
Terminal (終止形) 書くかくkaku
Attributive (連体形) 書くかくkaku
Realis (已然形) 書けかけkake
Imperative (命令形) 書けかけkake
Key constructions
Negative 書かずかかずkakazu
Contrasting conjunction 書けどかけどkakedo
Causal conjunction 書けばかけばkakeba
Conditional conjunction 書かばかかばkakaba
Past tense (firsthand knowledge) 書ききかききkakiki
Past tense (secondhand knowledge) 書きけりかきけりkakikeri
Perfect tense (conscious action) 書きつかきつkakitu
Perfect tense (natural event) 書きぬかきぬkakinu
Perfect-continuative tense 書けり
書きたり		かけり
かきたり		kakeri
kakitari
Volitional 書かむかかむkakamu

Derived terms

References
  1. “書・描”, in 日本国語大辞典 (Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, “Nihon Kokugo Daijiten”)‎ (in Japanese), concise edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 2000
  2. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK Publishing, →ISBN
  • 2002, Ineko Kondō; Fumi Takano; Mary E Althaus; et. al., Shogakukan Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary, Third Edition, Tokyo: Shōgakukan, →ISBN.
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