十

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. 十時に起きます。▶ —
   I get up at ten.
2. 十までかぞえる。▶ —
   Count to ten.

Collocations

Mnemonic

Juu (十) is the on-yomi reading for ten in Japanese. The numeral system runs on two parallel tracks: on-yomi (ichi, ni, san, shi, go, roku, shichi, hachi, kyuu, juu) and native Yamato (hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu, yottsu, itsutsu, muttsu, nanatsu, yattsu, kokonotsu, tou). For ten, only the on-yomi is juu; the Yamato reading is tou. Time uses on-yomi: juu-ji (10 oclock), juppun or jippun (10 minutes) with rendaku phonological alternation matrix across san-pun, rop-pun, jup-pun. Compounds: juu-ji (cross sign), juu-ji-ka (cross / crucifix), juu-ji-ro (crossroads). The kanji 十 is shared across Korea, China, Japan, with only the pronunciation diverging (Sino-Korean sip, Chinese shi, Japanese juu). The shared decimal system supports the 60-year sexagenary cycle.

Quick check

1. Which kanji causes the rendaku alternation in "ten minutes" Japanese reading?

   • 分 (fun -> pun -> ppun, the alternation matrix)
   • 時 (time)
   • 人 (person)
   • 年 (year)