# maru

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈmɑːɹuː/ · frequency rank #33,730

## Definitions
1. A Japanese ship, especially a merchant ship.
2. A semi-voiced diacritic (゜) used with Japanese kana to change a /h/ to a /p/.
3. A large, circular punctuation mark (。) used as a full stop in Japanese text.

## Etymology
From Japanese 丸(まる) (maru, “circle; suffix used for ship names”).

## Easily confused with
- **Mr** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/maru-vs-mr)
- **mu** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/maru-vs-mu)
- **may** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/maru-vs-may)
- **Mrs** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/maru-vs-mrs)
- **max** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/maru-vs-max)
- **mat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/maru-vs-mat)
- **MRI** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/maru-vs-mri)
- **mir** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/maru-vs-mir)
- **mer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/maru-vs-mer)
- **MOR** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/maru-vs-mor)
- **mou** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/maru-vs-mou)
- **Mau** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/maru-vs-mau)
- **MCU** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/maru-vs-mcu)
- **maw** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/maru-vs-maw)
- **MRT** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/maru-vs-mrt)
- **MRC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/maru-vs-mrc)
- **MRP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/maru-vs-mrp)
- **meu** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/maru-vs-meu)
- **more** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/maru-vs-more)
- **mass** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/maru-vs-mass)

## Common misspellings (5)
`amru`, `marru`, `maur`, `mmaru`, `mrau`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/maru