かしら

Japanese

Etymology 1

Apocopic shift from かしらん (ka shiran), in turn from か (ka, question particle: “if, whether, ?”) + しらぬ (shiranu, “to not know”, classical negative form of 知る (shiru, “to know”)). Literally means “don't know whether...”

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ka̠ ɕiɾa̠]

Particle

かしら • (ka shira) 

1. (women's speech)
   1. [from 1896] I wonder

      彼(かれ)は怪(あや)しい人(ひと)かしら。

      Kare wa ayashii hito ka shira.

      I wonder if he's a suspicious person.

   2. [from roughly 1820s] interrogative particle

      ご存(ぞん)じかしら？

      Go zon ji ka shira?

      I wonder if you have heard of that? / Perhaps you've heard of that?

      誰(だれ)かしらあの家(いえ)に引(ひ)っ越(こ)してくるだろう。

      Dare ka shira ano ie ni hikkoshite kuru darō.

      Someone or other will probably move into that house.

Usage notes

• かしら (ka shira) is similar to かな (ka na), but is used more by women than by men. The I wonder sense always comes at the end.

Etymology 2

For pronunciation and definitions of かしら – see the following entry.

【頭】2 [counter] a head, as when counting people, or cattle or other livestock [noun] 頭: the head as a whole [noun] 頭: boss, leader [noun] 頭: top part of a Chinese character [noun] 頭, 首: the head of a doll Alternative spelling 首

(This term, かしら, is the hiragana spelling of the above term.) For a list of all kanji read as かしら, see Category:Japanese kanji read as かしら.)