How to say "nine" in Japanese

• 九きゅうJLPT N5approx.Common
  numeralThe ordinary numeral for nine, read きゅう, used in numbers, prices, times, dates, and arithmetic. This is the default written form when you simply mean the number 9.
  彼かれは「九きゅう時じだ」と言いった。↗

  He said, "It's nine o'clock."
• ナインCommon
  nounThe loanword rendering of 'nine', most familiar from baseball, where ナイン means the team of nine players, and from reading aloud digits or shirt numbers as 'nine'.
• 九つここのつJLPT N5approx.Common
  numeralThe native counting form, read ここのつ, used for counting nine unspecified items or ages in traditional style. It is not how you write the bare number nine in figures or most numerical contexts.
  太陽たいようをまわる惑星わくせいは９つもあり、地球ちきゅうもその１つである。↗

  There are nine planets travelling around the sun, the earth being one of them.

Use 九 for the numeral in counting, prices, times, and dates; 「九つ」 for counting nine generic objects; 「ナイン」 mainly in borrowed contexts such as baseball's nine or the number nine itself.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

• 九きゅうnine
• ナインnine
• 九つここのつnine
• 九チューnine
• かぶnine (in mekuri karuta)