# づ — hiragana “zu”

づ is the hiragana character for the sound “zu”. It is written with 3 strokes, and in katakana the same sound is ヅ.

- Reading: zu
- Strokes: 3
- Katakana: ヅ

## How づ sounds

づ is つ with dakuten (゛): tsu becomes zu.
Sounds the same as ず. It is rare: it appears when つ is voiced, as in みかづき (mikazuki, a crescent moon), or after another つ, as in つづく (tsuzuku, to continue).

## Words with づ

| Word | Reading | Meaning |
| --- | --- | --- |
| つづける | tsuzukeru | to continue |
| きづく | kizuku | to notice |
| つづく | tsuzuku | to continue |
| ちかづく | chikazuku | to approach |
| かたづける | katazukeru | to put in order |

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From Moji Ninja (https://moji.ninja/), a free app for learning hiragana, katakana and the JLPT kanji from N5 to N1 with spaced repetition. Page: https://moji.ninja/hiragana-chart/du/. Last updated 2026-11-01.