九
きゅう · kyuu · JLPT N5 · noun
nine
9️⃣ kyuu sounds like the letter Q: nine people stand in a queue
きゅう is said just like the English letter Q, or the word queue. Link it to a queue of nine. 九 also has a second reading, く (ku), used in some words such as 九月 (kugatsu, September).
九 — single stroke; bent hook form
九 originally pictured a bent arm or elbow, drawn as a curved hooked line. It was borrowed phonetically to write the number 'nine' because the words sounded alike, and that numeric meaning eventually replaced the original.
く · ku · JLPT N5 · noun
nine
9️⃣ ku sounds like coo: nine doves coo. Also a homophone of 苦 (suffering)
九 is read く (ku) or きゅう (kyuu). The ku reading shares its sound with 苦, suffering, which is why nine is considered unlucky in Japan and why きゅう is often preferred when counting.
九 — single stroke; bent hook form
九 originally pictured a bent arm or elbow, drawn as a curved hooked line. It was borrowed phonetically to write the number 'nine' because the words sounded alike, and that numeric meaning eventually replaced the original.