gu / ぐ
The middle of the G row — く with two tiny ticks (゛) becomes 'gu'. Just three strokes total — the easiest G to write.
Pronunciation
The character ぐ represents the syllable 'gu', a hard 'g' followed by 'u'. It is く with the dakuten that voices 'k' to 'g'.
ぐ is く (ku) plus the dakuten ゛. It's the shortest G-row character to write — just three strokes total. ぐ appears in 具合 (guai, "condition/state"), 家具 (kagu, "furniture"), 軍 (gun, "army"), and 偶然 (guuzen, "coincidence"). Like the rest of the row, it can soften from /gu/ to /ŋu/ mid-word in formal speech.
How to write ぐ
Trace ぐ on the canvas at the top of the page. Animated arrows show each stroke's direction; trace along them and the stroke fills in. Each numbered step below explains what that stroke does.
Write く exactly: a single angular stroke shaped like a sideways 'V' or chevron. Start at the upper right, sweep down and to the left to meet at a sharp angle in the middle, then sweep back down and to the lower right.
Add the dakuten (゛): two small tick marks at the upper right. Stroke 2 is the upper tick; stroke 3 is the lower tick. Both quick and tiny.
Origin
Hiragana ぐ shares its base shape with く, which evolved from the kanji 久 (ku, "long time"). The kanji's main angled stroke compressed into the single chevron of く; the dakuten ゛ was added later to voice the consonant into /gu/.
Common words starting with ぐ
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing ぐ by hand — the top row shows the stroke order to trace, then fill the blank squares.
Lock it into memory
Reading is only half of it. Drill the hiragana you’ve learned with spaced-repetition flashcards — the fastest way to make them stick.