し

See also: じ, レ, and 乚

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

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

Cognate with demonstrative pronoun そ ‎(so).

Pronoun

し ‎(romaji 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 3

Noun

し ‎(romaji shi)

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

Etymology 4

Suffix

し ‎(romaji -shi)

1. 市: city

Etymology 5

Kanji reading

し ‎(romaji shi)

On-reading of:

• 士: gentleman, samurai

References

• Fujii, Sadakazu; Keiji Inaga (1989) Shin Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei 18: Ochikubo Monogatari, Sumiyoshi Monogatari (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, ISBN 4-00-240018-2
• 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 4-00-240024-7
• 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, ISBN 978-4-00-240001-3, published 1999.
• 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, ISBN 978-4-00-240004-4, published 2003.