を

Derived in the Heian period from writing the man'yōgana kanji 遠 in the cursive sōsho style.

• IPA^(key): [ɰᵝo̞] (obsolete, careful speech)

• IPA^(key): [o̞]

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を (romaji wo, alternative romaji o)

1. (obsolete) The hiragana syllable を (wo). Its equivalent in katakana is ヲ (wo). It is the forty-seventh syllable in the gojūon order; its position is わ行お段 (wa-gyō o-dan, “row wa, section o”).
2. (used as a particle) The hiragana syllable を (o). Its equivalent in katakana is ヲ (o). It is the forty-seventh syllable in the gojūon order; its position is わ行お段 (wa-gyō o-dan, “row wa, section o”).

• (Hiragana) 平仮名; あぁ, いぃ, うぅゔ, えぇ, おぉ, かゕが, きぎ, くぐ, けゖげ, こご, さざ, しじ, すず, せぜ, そぞ, ただ, ちぢ, つっづ, てで, とど, な, に, ぬ, ね, の, はばぱ, ひびぴ, ふぶぷ, へべぺ, ほぼぽ, ま, み, む, め, も, やゃ, ゆゅ, よょ, ら, り, る, れ, ろ, わゎ, ゐ, ゑ, を, ん, ー, ゝ, ゞ, ゟ
• うぉ (wo)

/wo/ → /o/

From Proto-Japonic *wo.

• IPA^(key): [o̞]
  • The historical spelling is retained despite the modern pronunciation.
  • In songs or hyperformal contexts, the old pronunciation wo may be used.

を (rōmaji o)

1. An accusative case particle: a grammatical marker following the direct object.

   私 (わたし)がリンゴを食 (た)べる。

   Watashi ga ringo o taberu.

   I eat an apple.

   私 (わたし)をリンゴが食 (た)べる。

   Watashi o ringo ga taberu.

   An apple eats me.

   • As shown in the above two usage examples, Japanese sentences use particles to indicate subject and object, instead of using word order as in English.

   • 794, Shin'yaku Kegonkyō Ongi Shiki (page 85)

     渉險 上往也下左何之伎乎

     [translit?]

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

2. (with intransitive verb) away from, off

   席 (せき)を立 (た)つ

   seki o tatsu

   to stand up from the seat

3. (with intransitive verb) along, following a specified route, track, orbit, etc.

   廊 (ろう)下 (か)を走 (はし)る

   rōka o hashiru

   to run across the corridor

   地 (ち)球 (きゅう)のまわりを月 (つき)がまわる

   chikyū no mawari o tsuki ga mawaru

   The Moon orbits the Earth.

• Yoshinori Kobayashi, Kojisho Ongi Shūsei 1: Shin'yaku Kegonkyō Ongi Shiki (in Japanese), Kyūko Shoin (published 1978; original text from 794), →ISBN.