む

Etymology 1
.

Etymology 2
Onomatopoeia.

Interjection

 * 1) Used to indicate a mumbling sound.

Etymology 3
From. First cited in the  of 712.

The pronunciation shifted from to just nasal  and then to the generalized nasal  by the mid- (794–1185), leading some writers to use  instead to write this suffix. The kana itself evolved out of a hentaigana (alternative kana form) for  based on the cursive for kanji. In Classical Japanese texts, the practice now is to pronounce final as  instead.

As a separate phonological shift, retained the vowel but lost the consonant, becoming a nasalized  and then plain. This then often fused with the preceding vowel, ultimately leading to the development of the modern volitional / suppositional ending in modern Japanese. See よう for more detail.

Variously described as suppositional ("seems like"), volitional ("I will"), or hortative ("let's). Ultimately, all of these senses arise from an apparent base meaning of "seem, appear, look like".  May be cognate with, ,.

Suffix

 * , Taketori Monogatari
 * , Taketori Monogatari

Conjugation

 * Resembling yodan conjugation, but defective.

Etymology 4
Native Japanese kun’yomi pronunciation of various Chinese characters.

Etymology 5
Middle Chinese-derived on’yomi pronunciation of various Chinese characters.