mu / む
The middle of the M row — three angular strokes 'mu' that pack into words for insects, dreams, and the negative formal verb ending.
Pronunciation
The character む represents the syllable 'mu', a soft 'm' followed by 'u' (with relaxed lips). Part of the ま-row.
む sits third in the M row and is one of the busier-looking hiragana. It packs into 虫 (bug, insect), 胸 (chest), 結ぶ (to tie). It also appears as the archaic-formal negative verb ending 〜ぬ → 〜む in older Japanese. Three strokes; angular and slightly busy.
How to write む
Trace む 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.
A short horizontal stroke at the upper left.
A long vertical stroke that drops from the right end of stroke 1 down through the middle, then sweeps around at the bottom into a looping curve, ending with a small flick on the lower right.
A small detached dot or short slanted mark on the upper right, just above the loop from stroke 2. This tiny accent is what distinguishes む from other looping characters.
Origin
Hiragana む derives from the cursive form of the kanji 武 (mu) — meaning "military" or "martial." The kanji's busy top section flowed into the upper horizontal and detached dot; its lower body compressed into the looping right-side stroke that defines む today.
Common words starting with む
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing む by hand — the top row shows the stroke order to trace, then fill the blank squares.
Lock it into memory
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