What verb is 「つく」 in 「～に気がつく」?


I was studying grammar from [this
site](http://japanesetest4you.com/flashcard/learn-
jlpt-n4-grammar-%E3%81%AB%E3%81%8D%E3%81%8C%E3%81%A4%E3%81%8F-ni-ki-ga-
tsuku/). I figured what き meant through the kanji, but I couldn't pinpoint
what verb つく _tsuku_ was.

Then I googled it and found a site where it says that 「に 気 が つく」 means "to
have _ki_ put onto you".

But I can't figure out the dictionary entry for つく.

Would anyone give me the dictionary definition along with the kanji for the
same?




つく is just 付く "to stick/adhere/be attached [to]".

〇〇に気が付く can literally be interpreted as "to have one's attention be attached
to (or focussed on) 〇〇". (Of course 気 is more profound than "attention".)

I think "to have _ki_ put onto you" does not work as a literal translation.
The thing that _ki_ is "put onto" is not "you", but the thing that was
noticed.

By the way, there is also a shortened version, written 気づく or 気付く.

(See [Do 気が付く{つく} and 気[付く]{づく} have the same
meaning?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/3856/1628))

* * *

### _Kanji_ vs _kana_

In both 気がつく and 気づく, the verb 付く is usually written in _kana_ , but the
_kanji_ version is still quite common: In the Balanced Corpus of Contemporary
Written Japanese about one in five instances appears in _kanji_.




つく is just 付く "to stick/adhere/be attached [to]".

〇〇に気が付く can literally be interpreted as "to have one's attention be attached
to (or focussed on) 〇〇". (Of course 気 is more profound than "attention".)

I think "to have _ki_ put onto you" does not work as a literal translation.
The thing that _ki_ is "put onto" is not "you", but the thing that was
noticed.

By the way, there is also a shortened version, written 気づく or 気付く.

(See [Do 気が付く{つく} and 気[付く]{づく} have the same
meaning?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/3856/1628))

* * *

### _Kanji_ vs _kana_

In both 気がつく and 気づく, the verb 付く is usually written in _kana_ , but the
_kanji_ version is still quite common: In the Balanced Corpus of Contemporary
Written Japanese about one in five instances appears in _kanji_.

