無
む · mu · JLPT N3 · noun
nothing
🈚 無 started as a dancer (舞) and was borrowed to mean nothing; read mu
Old forms of 無 showed a dancer holding tassels. Because the sound matched, scribes borrowed it for 'not have'; 舞 was later made for 'dance'. Hook: mu, the Zen koan's answer that is neither yes nor no, only nothing.
ぶ · bu · JLPT N3 · noun
nothing
Boo! and nothing is there: 無 (bu) means nothing
無 began as a sketch of a dancer and was borrowed for its sound to mean have not; the dancer got feet and became 舞. You hear ぶ in 無事 (buji, safe: no incident) and 無礼 (burei, rude: no manners).