nine
九 centers on the number nine, a fundamental numeral.
九 is a pictograph of a bent arm or elbow, originally representing the concept of bending. It was borrowed early on to represent the number nine.
The shape looks like a bent arm with a hook at the end. Imagine counting to nine on your fingers and then bending your arm to signal you're done.
For キュウ, imagine a cute little bent arm: cute -> キュウ, and the arm is bent like the kanji 九.
nine; 9
Kyūshū (southernmost of the four main islands of Japan)
Kitakyushu (city)
longtooth grouper (Epinephelus bruneus)
in 8 or 9 cases out of ten; in all probability
Kyushu University
Kyushu Electric Power
Kyushu University (abbr)
ninefold
nine
narrowly averting death
nine traditional astrological signs in Onmyōdō, each corresponding to the year of a person's birth and used to create a horoscope
Kutani ware (style of Japanese porcelain)
common hill mynah (Gracula religiosa); hill myna; myna bird
nine-character charm chanted with ritual gestures to ward off evil (esp. by mountain ascetics and adherents of Esoteric Buddhism)
nine-headed dragon
Navagraha (divine personifications of the nine celestial bodies in Hindu mythology); nine luminaries
as expected of Kyūshū (esp. in terms of male chauvinism, etc.)
Seven Stars in Kyushu (train)
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949 novel by George Orwell)