句点

• Reading: くてん
• Romaji: kuten
• Kanji breakdown: 句 (ku) — phrase, sentence, clause; 点 (ten) — dot, point, mark
• Pronunciation: /kɯ.teɴ/

Meaning

Full stop; period. The punctuation mark used to end a sentence in Japanese writing.

A noun referring to the Japanese full stop character, which appears as a small circle rather than a dot. Distinguished from 読点 (touten, comma). Together they form 句読点 (kutouten, punctuation marks). Important in Japanese language study as punctuation rules differ from English — for example, Japanese full stops are not used after titles or headings. Commonly encountered in language and writing instruction.

Examples

1. 文の終わりには必ず句点を打ってください。 Be sure to place a period at the end of every sentence.
2. 句点と読点の使い方を正しく覚えよう。 Let's learn how to properly use periods and commas.
3. この文章は句点が少なくて読みにくい。 This text is hard to read because there are too few periods.

Usage Guide

Context: writing, grammar, education, publishing

Tone: instructional

Origin & History

From Sino-Japanese: 句 (ku, phrase/sentence) + 点 (ten, dot/point). Literally 'sentence point' — the mark that indicates the end of a sentence.

Cultural Context

Era: Modern

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal