Fu (kana)

, in hiragana, or in katakana, is one of the Japanese kana, each of which represents one mora. The hiragana is made in four strokes, while the katakana in one. It represents the phoneme , although for phonological reasons (general scheme for /h/ group, whose only phonologic survivor to /f/ ([ɸ]) remaining is ふ: b←p←f→h), the actual pronunciation is , which is why it is romanized fu in Hepburn romanization instead of hu as in Nihon-shiki and Kunrei-shiki rōmaji (Korean 후 /hu/ creates the same phonetic effect as lips are projected when pronouncing "u"). Written with a dakuten (ぶ, ブ), they both represent a "bu" sound, and written with handakuten (ぷ, プ) they both represent a "pu" sound.

The katakana フ is frequently combined with other vowels to represent sounds in foreign words. For example, the word "file" is written in Japanese as ファイル (fairu), with ファ representing a non-native sound, fa.

In certain Okinawan writing systems, ふ/フ can be written as ふぁ, ふぃ, ふぇ to make both fa, fi, and fe sounds as well as representing the sounds hwa, hwi, and hwe. In the Ryukyu University system, fa/hwa is written using the wa kana instead, ふゎ/フヮ. In the Ainu language the katakana with a handakuten プ can be written as a small ㇷ゚ to represent a final p sound. In the Sakhalin dialect, フ without a handakuten can be written as small ㇷ to represent a final h sound after an u sound (ウㇷ uh).

Forms	Rōmaji	Hiragana	Katakana	Example words (with kanji)
Normal f- (は行 ha-gyō)	fu	ふ	フ	ふゆ fuyu 冬 winter ふえる fueru 増える to grow/increase ふつう futsū 普通 normal ふみきり fumikiri 踏み切り level crossing ふとん futon 布団 quilt/blanket ふるえる furueru 震える to shake フランス furansu France
	fuu, fwu fū	ふう, ふぅ ふー	フウ, フゥ フー
Addition dakuten b- (ば行 ba-gyō)	bu	ぶ	ブ	はんぶん hanbun 半分 half かぶ kabu 株 share/stump ぶし bushi 武士 samurai ハーブ hābu herb
	buu, bwu bū	ぶう, ぶぅ ぶー	ブウ, ブゥ ブー
Addition handakuten p- (ぱ行 pa-gyō)	pu	ぷ	プ	きっぷ kippu 切符 stamp おんぷ ompu 音符 note
	puu, pwu pū	ぷう, ぷぅ ぷー	プウ, プゥ プー

Other additional forms
Rōmaji Hiragana Katakana Form A (f-/fw-/fy-) fa, fwa ふぁ, ふゎ ファ, フヮ ファール fāru foul fi, fwi ふぃ フィ フィンランド finrando Finland (fwu) (ふぅ) (フゥ) フリー furī Free fe, fwe ふぇ フェ フェルト feruto felt fo, fwo ふぉ フォ フォード fōdo Ford fya ふゃ フャ fyu ふゅ フュ fye ふぃぇ フィェ fyo ふょ フョ	Rōmaji Hiragana Katakana Form B (bw-) bwa ぶぁ, ぶゎ ブァ, ブヮ bwi ぶぃ ブィ (bwu) (ぶぅ) (ブゥ) bwe ぶぇ ブェ bwo ぶぉ ブォ	Rōmaji Hiragana Katakana Form C (pw-) pwa ぷぁ, ぷゎ プァ, プヮ pwi ぷぃ プィ (pwu) (ぷぅ) (プゥ) pwe ぷぇ プェ pwo ぷぉ プォ

Stroke order

Stroke order in writing ふ Stroke order in writing ふ 3, 4

Stroke order in writing フ Stroke order in writing フ 1

File:ふ-bw.png

Stroke order in writing ふ

File:フ-bw.png

Stroke order in writing フ

Other communicative representations

• Full Braille representation

ふ / フ in Japanese Braille
ふ / フ fu	ぶ / ブ bu	ぷ / プ pu	ふう / フー fū	ぶう / ブー bū	ぷう / プー pū	Other kana based on Braille ふ
						ひゅ / ヒゅ hyu	びゅ / ビュ byu	ぴゅ / ピュ pyu	ひゅう / ヒュー hyū	びゅう / ビュー byū	ぴゅう / ピュー pyū
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• Computer encodings