さ

See also: ち, き, ざ, さ゚, and ㄜ

さ U+3055, さ HIRAGANA LETTER SA ← ご [U+3054] Hiragana ざ → [U+3056]

Japanese

Stroke order

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [sa̠]

Etymology 1

Derived in the Heian period from writing the man'yōgana kanji 左 in the cursive sōsho style.

Syllable

さ • (sa) 

1. The hiragana syllable さ (sa). Its equivalent in katakana is サ (sa). It is the eleventh syllable in the gojūon order; its position is さ行あ段 (sa-gyō a-dan, “row sa, section a”).

Derived terms

• ざ (za)

See also

• (Hiragana) 平仮名; あぁ, いぃ, うぅゔ, えぇ, おぉ, かゕが, きぎ, くぐ, けゖげ, こご, さざ, しじ, すず, せぜ, そぞ, ただ, ちぢ, つっづ, てで, とど, な, に, ぬ, ね, の, はばぱ, ひびぴ, ふぶぷ, へべぺ, ほぼぽ, ま, み, む, め, も, やゃ, 𛀆, ゆゅ, 𛀁, よょ, ら, り, る, れ, ろ, わゎ, ゐ, 𛄟 (𛄟), ゑ, を, ん, ー, ゝ, ゞ, ゟ

Etymology 2

Cognate with し (shi).

Pronoun

さ • (sa) 

1. third person personal pronoun; they
   • c. late 10th century Taketori Monogatari

     翁言ふやう、「御迎へに來む人をば、長き爪して、眼をつかみ潰さん。 さが髪をとりて、かなぐり落とさむ。さが尻をかき出でて、ここらの公人に見せて、恥を見せん」と腹立ちをる。

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

See also

• し (shi)

Etymology 3

From Old Japanese.

Suffix

さ • (-sa) 

1. -ness

   綺(き)麗(れい)→綺(き)麗(れい)さ

   kirei→kireisa

   beautiful→beauty (na-adjective)

   悲(かな)しい→悲(かな)しさ

   kanashii→kanashisa

   sad→sadness (i-adjective)

Usage notes

• Used with na-adjectives and i-adjectives.
• Has a different connotation from み (-mi). See that entry for explanation.

Etymology 4

Particle

さ • (sa) 

1. (dialectal Kanto, Tōhoku, Hokkaidō) sentence-ending particle indicating emphasis
2. (colloquial, men's speech) sentence-ending particle indicating familiarity or assertion

   大(だい)丈(じょう)夫(ぶ)さ。気(き)にしないでくれ。

   Daijōbu sa. Ki ni shinai de kure.

   It's fine, don't worry about it.

3. (informal) filler particle similar to ね (ne)

   それでさ、凄(すご)く怒(おこ)られたんだよ。

   Sore de sa, sugoku okorareta n da yo.

   Then, I really got yelled at.

Usage notes

As a male sentence-ending particle, less strong than ぞ (zo) or ぜ (ze).

Etymology 5

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [sa̠]

Particle

さ • (sa) 

1. (dialectal) to

   Synonyms: (standard Japanese) へ (e), (standard Japanese) に (ni)

   かっちゃさ電(でん)話(わ)しねば！

   Katcha sa denwa shineba!

   (Tsugaru) Gotta call mom!

   『俺(お)ら東(とう)京(きょう)さ行(い)ぐだ』

   “Ora Tōkyō sa Igu da”

   "I'm Goin' to Tokyo" (1984 song by Yoshi Ikuzō)

   • 1929, Takiji Kobayashi, Kani Kōsen [The Crab Cannery Ship]‎^[1]:

     「おい地(じ)獄(ごく)さ行(え)ぐんだで！」

     “Oi jigoku sa egu n da de!”

     "Ah'm goin' ta hell!"

References

• Sakakura, Atsuyoshi with Yūichi Ōtsu, Hiroshi Tsukishima, Toshiko Abe, Imai Gen'e (1957), Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei 9: Taketori Monogatari, Ise Monogatari, Yamato Monogatari (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, →ISBN

Etymology 6

Alternative spelling
然 (rare)

Adverb

さ • (sa) 

1. (Classical Japanese) that way; like that

   Synonym: そう

Usage notes

• Nowadays mostly in fixed expressions or compounds.

Derived terms

• さも (samo)
• さもないと (samonaito)
• 左(さ)様(よう) (sayō)
• さようなら (sayōnara)

Etymology 7

For pronunciation and definitions of さ – see the following entries.

【矢】2 [noun] (obsolete) an arrow

【左】1 [noun] the left in vertical writing [noun] the following (one) [prefix] to the left; on the left side [prefix] (history, government) "of the left", senior or superior to 右 (u-, “of the right”)

【狭】S [affix] narrow, small Alternative spelling 小

【紗】J [noun] silk gauze

【沙しゃ】S [noun] one hundred millionth (1 in 100,000,000)

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

(The following entry does not have a page created for it yet: 小.)