し

See also: じ, レ, and 乚

し U+3057, し HIRAGANA LETTER SI ← ざ [U+3056] Hiragana じ → [U+3058]

Japanese

Stroke order

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɕi]

• Audio

  (file)

Etymology 1

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

Syllable

し (romaji shi)

1. The hiragana syllable し (shi). Its equivalent in katakana is シ (shi). It is the twelfth syllable in the gojūon order; its position is さ行い段 (sa-gyō i-dan, “row sa, section i”).

Derived terms

• しゃ (sha), しゅ (shu), しょ (sho)
• じ (ji)

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, ゆゅ, よょ, ら, り, る, れ, ろ, わゎ, ゐ, ゑ, を, ん, ー, ゝ, ゞ, ゟ

Etymology 2

Particle

し (rōmaji shi)

1. Conjunctive particle. Follows items in a list of reasons.
   • 夢野久作, 《恐ろしい東京》

     見渡 (みわた)す限 (かぎ)り百 (ひゃっ)貨 (か)店 (てん)みたいで、何 (ど)処 (こ)で切 (きっ)符 (ぷ)を売 (う)っているのかわからないし、プラットフォームらしいものもないので、間違 (まちが)ったのかなと思 (おも)って又石段 (またいしだん)を上 (のぼ)って見 (み)ると、丸 (まる)キリ知 (し)らない繁 (はん)華 (か)な町 (まち)である。

     Miwatasu kagiri hyakkaten mitai de, doko de kippu o utteiru no ka wakaranai shi, purattofōmu rashī mono mo nai no de, machigatta no ka na to omotte mata ishidan o nobottemiruto, marukiri shiranai hanka na machi de aru.

     What I could see looked like a department store, I had no idea where tickets were being sold, and there wasn't anything like a platform. Wondering if I haven't come to the wrong place I once again walked up the stone stairs and a bustling street I wasn't familiar with filled my vision.

   • けいおん！

     「でもでも、私運動音痴 (わたしうんどうおんち)だし、文 (ぶん)化 (か)系 (けい)のクラブもよくわからないし…」

     “Demo demo, watashi undō onchi da shi, bunkakei no kurabu mo yoku wakaranai shi…”

     "But—but I'm terrible at sports and I don't really know anything about the cultural clubs…"

Etymology 3

From Old Japanese, from Proto-Japonic *si. Cognate with demonstrative pronoun そ (so).

Pronoun

し (rōmaji shi)

1. third person personal pronoun; he, she, it
   • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 5, poem 904)

     [...] 夕星乃 由布弊尓奈礼婆 伊射祢余登 手乎多豆佐波里 父母毛 表者奈佐我利 三枝之 中尓乎祢牟登 愛久 志我可多良倍婆 [...]

   • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 19, poem 4191)

     鵜河立 取左牟安由能 之我波多波 吾等尓可伎无気 念之念婆

   • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 19, poem 4254)

     [...] 八隅知之 吾大皇 秋花 之我色々尓 見賜 明米多麻比 酒見附 榮流今日之 安夜尓貴左 [...]

2. reflexive pronoun; one, oneself
   • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 18, poem 4094)

     [...] 八十伴雄乎 麻都呂倍乃 牟気乃麻尓々々 老人毛 女童児毛 之我願 心太良比尓 撫賜 治賜婆 [...]

   • c. 935: Tosa Nikki (day 24)

     廿四日。講師、むまのはなむけしにいでませり。ありとあるかみしも、わらはまでゑひしれて、一文字をだにしらぬもの、しがあしは十文字にふみてぞあそぶ。

   • c. late 10th century: Ochikubo Monogatari (Volume 1)

     あなわかわかしの晝寢や。しが身のほど知らぬこそいと心憂けれ」とて、うちあざわらひ給ふ。

Etymology 4

Reading of various Chinese words.

Noun

し (rōmaji shi)

1. 四: four
2. 詩: poem, verse
3. 死: death
4. 師: teacher, Reverend
5. 仕: civil service

Suffix

し (rōmaji -shi)

1. 市: city

Etymology 5

Suffix

し (rōmaji -shi)

1. (Classical Japanese, jodōshi) The adnominal form of き (ki, past tense auxiliary).
   • 1994, Yumi Matsutoya (lyrics), Yumi Matsutoya (music), “春よ、来い”, performed by Yumi Matsutoya:

     愛をくれし君の なつかしき声がする

References

• Fujii, Sadakazu; Keiji Inaga (1989) Shin Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei 18: Ochikubo Monogatari, Sumiyoshi Monogatari (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, →ISBN
• Hasegawa, Masaharu; Yūichirō Imanishi, Hiroshi Itō, Hiroshi Yoshioka (1989) Shin Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei 24: Tosa Nikki, Kagerō Nikki, Murasaki Shikibu Nikki, Sarashina Nikki (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, →ISBN
• Satake, Akihiro; Hideo Yamada; Rikio Kudō; Masao Ōtani; Yoshiyuki Yamazaki (c. 759) Shin Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei 1: Man’yōshū 1 (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, published 1999, →ISBN.
• Satake, Akihiro; Hideo Yamada; Rikio Kudō; Masao Ōtani; Yoshiyuki Yamazaki (c. 759) Shin Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei 4: Man’yōshū 4 (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, published 2003, →ISBN.