ku / ク
The middle of the K row — a quick “ku” in two strokes. You'll spot it in クラス, クッキー, and クリスマス.
Pronunciation
The character ク represents the syllable 'ku', identical in pronunciation to hiragana く. Very common in loanwords (class, club, Christmas, cookie).
ク shares hiragana く's sound — a crisp “ku” with relaxed, unrounded lips. It opens a long list of loanwords: クラス (class), クッキー (cookie), クリスマス (Christmas), クイズ (quiz).
How to write ク
Trace ク 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 diagonal from the top, slanting down to the left.
A longer stroke from the upper middle: sweep right, then curve down and inward to finish at the lower left — the body of ク.
Origin
Katakana ク comes from the upper portion of the kanji 久 (ku, “a long time”). The opening strokes of 久 survived as ク; its lower sweep was trimmed away.
Common words starting with ク
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing ク 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 katakana you’ve learned with spaced-repetition flashcards — the fastest way to make them stick.