kyuu (thing)

Japanese to represent the number nine (9). Drawn as the kanji character:

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Originally written as a pictograph representing a bent elbow. In ancient times a bent elbow was used to indicate the number nine when counting with only one arm.

This character can be read as kyuu, ku, or kokono- (when used as a prefix). Example words are: juukyuu (nineteen), kokonoka (ninth day), & kugatsu (September).