zu / ず
The middle of the Z row — す with two tiny ticks (゛) becomes 'zu'. Anchors water, maps, and the negative-form verb ending 〜ず.
Pronunciation
The character ず represents the syllable 'zu', a soft 'z' followed by 'u'. It is す with the dakuten that voices 's' to 'z'. Note that ず and づ are both pronounced 'zu' in modern Japanese — ず is the standard form used in most words.
ず is す (su) plus the dakuten ゛. It anchors 水 (mizu, "water"), 地図 (chizu, "map"), 鈴 (suzu, "bell"), 数字 (suuji, "numeral"), and the literary negative-form verb ending 〜ず ("not doing X"). Like じ, the romaji zu can map either to ず (this row, common) or to づ (D row, rare and mostly historical).
How to write ず
Trace ず 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 す exactly: stroke 1 a short horizontal at the top; stroke 2 a long flowing vertical that drops through stroke 1, loops around at the bottom into a small closed circle on the lower right, and exits with a small flick downward.
Add the dakuten (゛): two small tick marks at the upper right of the character. Strokes 3 and 4 are the two ticks, written quickly.
Origin
Hiragana ず shares its base shape with す, which evolved from the kanji 寸 (sun, a unit of length). The kanji's strokes flowed into the single looping body of す; the dakuten ゛ voiced /su/ into /zu/.
Common words starting with ず
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing ず by hand — the top row shows the stroke order to trace, then fill the blank squares.
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